The Seahawks dealt Geno Smith to the Raiders on Friday night for a third-round pick, with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reporting that Seattle will turn their focus to signing Sam Darnold to solve their QB problems. Let’s dig into what this means for fantasy purposes.
GENO SMITH
- Smith wasn’t fantasy-relevant outside of best ball before, and that won’t change with the Raiders or any team. This doesn’t exclude Las Vegas from getting a QB in the draft, as we have enough evidence at this point that Geno is a startable NFL QB, but he’s unlikely to be a difference-maker at the most important position in football. Smith remains a best ball QB2/3 pending the draft for his chances of starting all 17 games.
RAIDERS PASS CATCHERS
- This is ideal news for Raiders pass catchers. The Raiders have the seventh pick of the draft and will certainly miss out on Cam Ward as a result, and Smith is likely an upgrade over Sam Darnold or any free-agent QB besides Jameis Winston (for fantasy purposes). Brock Bowers is coming off the greatest rookie TE season we have ever seen and now should get significantly better quarterback play. Jakobi Meyers is currently the WR1 for the Raiders — though there’s plenty of time for L.V. to remedy the position — and also gets a sizable boost with Geno now calling the shots.
- The RB position for the Raiders is also a major question mark that will likely be solved in free agency or the draft. This is now a passable spot for a rookie or free-agent back, as Smith has proven capable of orchestrating a league-average offense.
SEAHAWKS PASS CATCHERS
- The biggest question lies with the Seahawks, who are now without a quarterback. With Russini reporting they are targeting Darnold, he has to be the favorite for the job. It seems likely — though not a guarantee — that Seattle wouldn’t trade Geno unless they had a backup plan they felt confident in, as the other option is basically just tanking the entire season to draft a quarterback in 2026. With that in mind and the immediate report that they will target Darnold in free agency, one would think they feel confident in their chances of landing Darnold.
- Darnold had a brilliant year under Kevin O’Connell before faltering badly near the end of the season, flashing the downside we’re used to seeing with Darnold rather than the KOC-inspired greatness of the season’s first three months. Klint Kubiak showed what he’s capable of during Weeks 1-2 of last year with New Orleans looking like the best offense in football, but he has a long way to go before getting to the level of KOC that could make Darnold relevant in MVP talks. Darnold isn’t awful, but he’s most likely a downgrade from Smith, albeit one who can sustain fantasy-relevant weapons.
- Tyler Lockett is gone, DK Metcalf requested a trade, and Noah Fant is a cut candidate as well. Jaxon Smith-Njigba remains as the clear WR1 for the Seahawks and can certainly produce with Darnold at the helm, though this trade still is not ideal for him given we have already seen him put up monster numbers with Geno. Still, this is at most a mild hit to his value, and his ADP likely rises, not falls, from the news of the previous week since a Metcalf trade would be more impactful.
- If the Seahawks swing and miss on Darnold, they’d either have to quickly pivot to another QB in free agency or the draft. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
