Geno Smith Contract and Salary: Analyzing the Veteran QB’s Deal After Trade to Las Vegas Raiders

After an impressive turnaround with the Seattle Seahawks, Geno Smith was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick.

Raiders minority owner Tom Brady and head coach Pete Carroll entered this offseason determined to upgrade their quarterback position, and now Smith will replace Las Vegas’ revolving door of QBs from the 2024 season that included Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew II, and Desmond Ridder. Smith played for Carroll in Seattle and has now reunited with the veteran head coach.

How much will Smith make next year with the Raiders, and what does his contract look like going forward?

Geno Smith’s Salary and Contract

Smith signed a three-year contract worth up to $105 million with Seattle during the offseason after his breakout 2022 campaign.

That season, the journeyman quarterback completed 69.8% of his pass attempts for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while also running for 366 yards and one score. Smith earned Comeback Player of the Year honors as a result after never fully finding his footing across his first seven NFL seasons.

The Seahawks rewarded that production with an incentive-laden contract that included $75 million in base value, led by $27.3 million fully guaranteed at signing.

Many of Smith’s incentives include roster bonuses, which pay out on certain dates if milestones were met the previous season and Smith is still on the team’s roster.

Those are different from performance incentives, which are guaranteed the moment a player surpasses a stipulated milestone. In Smith’s case, this means he will have to surpass certain milestones and still be on the roster by the time the payout date rolls around.

Now, the Raiders will inherit Smith’s contract, which will count against the cap for $44.5 million in 2025. Smith is expected to sign a new contract with Las Vegas that will pay him $40-45 million per year, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic.

If he gets $45 million per year, that would tie him with Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins for the 12th-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, in terms of average annual value.

The highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL are Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott ($60 million), Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow ($55 million), Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love ($55 million), Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence ($55 million), Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million), San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy ($53 million) and Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff ($53 million).

During the 2024 season, Smith was the NFL’s 15th-ranked quarterback in the league according to PFSN’s QB+ metric. He ranked 21st in EPA/DB (0.03), 20th on third downs (37.4%), and 14th in nYPA (6.9). Smith essentially matched his 2022 level of play, yet the Seahawks failed to make the playoffs.

Smith averaged 0.03 EPA per dropback in 2024, which ranked 21st in the NFL. While that sounds underwhelming, the Raiders’ QBs have averaged -0.05 EPA per dropback the last two seasons since they traded away Derek Carr.

Smith ranked between 10th and 18th in QB+ in each of his three seasons as the Seahawks’ starter. His biggest strength was that he performed very well when protected, ranking seventh in passer rating (107.4) when kept clean since 2022.

Smith started in 2022 and 2023 with Carroll as his head coach. In those seasons, Smith ranked fourth in completion percentage (67.4%), sixth in passing TD (50), and sixth in passing yards (7,906).

Smith benefitted from a loaded supporting cast in Seattle. However, he hasn’t looked good so far in Las Vegas in the offense, which is mainly built around tight end Brock Bowers.

In eight games with the Raiders, Smith has thrown for 1,701 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, while completing 67.2% of his throws. According to PFSN’s QB Impact metric, he is currently the 18th-ranked quarterback in the league.

Raiders Players’ Fantasy Outlooks for Week 10

Here is what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote on the notable Raiders players’ fantasy outlook for the Week 10 matchup against the Denver Broncos:

Geno Smith

After back-to-back-to-back-to-back single-digit performances, Geno Smith hung 26.3 fantasy points on the Jaguars in one of the more entertaining games of Week 9.

Don’t care. He’s followed the Justin Fields plan of sporadic production this season (this is his third game clearing 17 points), but doesn’t have access to the cheat code that is athleticism, and that has me assuming dud performances in neutral spots until I see something sustainable pointing in the opposite direction.

I’ve yet to see that, and I don’t expect to against one of the best defenses in the league, even with Patrick Surtain shelved. A player like this needs quick-hit ability through the air, and given that Smith has four deep completions over his past five contests, we are doubtful to get there.

Brock Bowers

Can you imagine if the bye week came earlier in the season?

I kid, but Brock Bowers looked like rookie Brock Bowers coming out of the off week. He caught 12 of 13 targets against the Jags for 127 yards and three scores, looking unguardable for all 60 minutes.

Since the beginning of last season, Bowers has had half of the 30-point (PPR) games from the tight end position across the NFL, and he led the Raiders in receiving by 80 yards in the near victory.

I’m not yet ready to say that he’s all the way back; we still have to see how the knee reacts, and he still does have a Geno Smith problem that could pop up at any time, but he’s back to Tier 1 status and could pull your team out of the fire should you still have playoff aspirations.

If we acknowledge that his last healthy game came in Week 1, then his last 15 healthy contests have seen him rack up 109 catches for 1,208 yards and eight scores. That’s elite-level upside for any tight end in the history of the game, let alone one dealing with below-average QB play.

If you stayed patient with a player we all labeled as a difference-maker this summer, you stand to be rewarded moving forward.

Ashton Jeanty

Ashton Jeanty’s usage in the passing game (4+ targets in three of his past four games) is what we begged for early in the season and is helping him overcome picking up less than two feet per carry before contact this season.

I don’t care how talented you believe the rookie to be; the rushing efficiency is unlikely to rebound as long as this offensive line and Geno Smith continue to struggle. The touchdown reception last week showcased the wiggle that we assumed we’d see more of this season, but Jeanty can’t find open space when handed the ball, and that’s not going to change.

The sixth overall pick has been held under 45 rushing yards in consecutive games, four times this season, and is at risk of a similar fate this week. The Broncos have been vulnerable at times to power run games, but that’s not exactly a word I’d use to describe this attack.

I’ve got Jeanty ranked as a strong RB2 this week, thinking that we see something similar to last week against the Jags: 12-15 carries with limited efficiency, along with 4-6 targets.