Seattle Seahawks: 5 no-strings-attached candidates to back up Geno Smith
Chip Clark
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Quarterback Russell Wilson is on the shelf for 4-8 weeks. Who can the Seattle Seahawks turn to as a backup for Geno Smith? Here are five candidates.
An old football adage says a backup quarterback is one hit away from becoming the starter. The Seattle Seahawks found that out the hard way after starting quarterback, Russell Wilson dislocated his finger on Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. RW3 needed surgery to repair the damage, and he will be out of action for at least a month.
The team turned to Wilson’s backup Geno Smith in the second half. Now it’s Smith’s team, and someone else is a hit away from leading the Seahawks. As of now, that job is open.
Considering the time frame, it’s unlikely the Seahawks trade for a quarterback and give up a draft pick to do it. If they did, former Washington State star Gardner Minshew II should be at the top of their list, followed by Sean Manion, who was in Seattle’s training camp this summer.
Two other veteran quarterbacks Nick Mullens (Cleveland), and Matt Barkley (Tennessee), who could help, are on practice squads, and so far, have been protected every week. It’s iffy whether or not their respective teams would let them walk for nothing.
Barkley was Carroll’s last quarterback at USC. Over eight seasons, he played in 19 games with 7 starts, completed 212 of 363 passes for 2,699 yards, with 11 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Since 2018, Mullens had 16 starts, 4,714 passing yards, and 25 touchdowns against 22 picks, all for division rival San Francisco.
This ain't USC anymore! Pete Carroll, Mark Sanchez & Matt Barkley in a Trojan reunion #SEAvsPHI (pic: @areedk5sports) pic.twitter.com/xntavZhVfk
— Stadium (@Stadium) December 7, 2014
Here are our top five no-strings-attached candidates to be Seattle’s new number two. Warning: this isn’t a very impressive list.