Silver And Black Pride
The Raiders are now 1-4, losing in a blowout fashion 40-6 against the Colts on Sunday. During that loss, Raiders quarterback Geno Smith tossed 228 yards and 2 interceptions bringing his total interception count to 9 on the season, which leads the NFL. In addition, Smith has thrown just 6 touchdowns in that span for another NFL worst 1:1.5 TD:INT ratio. Smith has recorded 11 turnover worthy plays and a 5.6% TWP rate, both the worst in the NFL among quarterbacks. In addition, Smith has also been responsible for 14 pressures and 5 sacks this season, again both ranking inside the top 5 for quarterbacks this season. When clean, Geno Smith has thrown 5 of his 9 interceptions, while pressured by the OL he’s thrown just 1, and when Smith has created his own pressure he’s thrown 3 interceptions.
In April, the Raiders signed Smith to a 2 year, 75 million dollar extension which was in addition to his 1 year, 40 million salary for 2025. In the new contract, 58.5 of the new 75 million was guaranteed with 40 million coming in 2025. The key thing to note, that Smith will earn an additional 8.5M guaranteed if on the Raiders roster the 3rd day of the 2026 league year. At the current moment, his cap hit for 2026 sits only at 26.5 million and 39.5 million in 2027. The Raiders are capable of getting out of Smith’s 2026 contract, with the quarterback having just 18.5 million in dead cap space if released pre or 6/1 (8M total savings). In the off chance the Raiders would be able to trade him, which is highly unlikely, the new team would inherit all of his 26.5 million in cap space leaving the Raiders with no dead money.
The Raiders are currently projected to have 103.2 million in cap space for the 2026 off-season with an additional 10-18 million in rollover cap space likely to be added to their total number. The Raiders are sitting 1-4 with Smith having a large contribution for that in terms of the offense’s failures. The Raiders have the ability to move off of Smith in favor for a rookie quarterback, which likely will be needed. I wrote earlier on a quick outline of the 2026 draft QB class, which you can find on SilverNBLackPride. The largest question involving Geno Smith, and if the Raiders would move on from him, is Pete Carrol. The Raiders head coach, brought in Smith as his quarterback for 2025 and spent the end of his time in Seattle with Smith as his quarterback. The two have an incredibly close connection and it’s hard to see Carrol moving off of the veteran quarterback, especially when Smith hasn’t been benched at any point this season for his poor play which includes multiple 20 point blowouts.
