Seattle Seahawks: Geno Smith’s Redemption – Pt. 1 Welcome to the NFL
Ed Stein
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Bouncing around the League
Smith hit the free agent market after his rookie contract expired. He signed with Giants to back up Eli Manning. That was where he got into a little controversy that wasn’t of his own making.
NYG struggled mightily in 2017. Head Coach Ben McAdoo’s job was hanging by a thread when the 2-10 G-Men showed up in Oakland. In a desperation move, McAdoo benched Manning, who had 210 consecutive starts, the third-longest streak in NFL history.
Enter Geno Smith as NYG’s Week 13 starter. He didn’t have a bad game, throwing for 237 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Behind New York’s leaky offensive line, he was sacked 3 times and hit 5 more.
The Giants lost 24-10, and ownership canned McAdoo after the game. Although it wasn’t anything he was personally responsible for, the damage was done, as far as the fans were concerned, Smith broke Eli’s streak.
On to the Chargers for 2018. Smith appeared in five games backing up another future Hall of Famer, Phillip Rivers, and threw 8 passes all year. Then he sat out all of 2019.
At the beginning of this article, one of the scouting reports said, “Whether or not Smith pans out will depend largely on him landing with a good, stable coaching staff.” That never happened. Or at least not until he signed with the Seahawks in 2020.
To be continued
