Raiders’ Smith shares warning for NFL after signing extension

It’s hardly a secret that one reason quarterback Geno Smith welcomed an offseason trade from the Seattle Seahawks to the Las Vegas Raiders is that he felt he’d receive better financial guarantees from the Raiders than from his previous employer. 

During a recent chat with NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the veteran signal-caller who turns 35 years old this coming fall shared a bit of a warning for the rest of the league. 

“I’m still getting better at my age,” Smith said directly. “And I hate that people try to use my age against me. I’m stronger and faster than all these young guys, and I can throw farther and better. So that’s not an issue. But I think they were trying to use some things against me, and I just had to get into a situation where everyone believed in me and everyone was going in the same direction.”

Of course, Smith isn’t a typical NFL starting quarterback who has been in the league since the second round of the 2013 draft. From his rookie season through the 2021 campaign, he made just 34 regular-season starts. He has since earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award honors for the 2022 campaign and more recently inked a two-year, $85.5M extension that included $66.5M guaranteed with Las Vegas. 

Raiders minority owner Tom Brady has seemingly taken Smith under his wing. Brady was a 42-year-old six-time Super Bowl champion when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020, and he then guided that club to a Super Bowl title in his first season with the organization. Some feel he should’ve won the Most Valuable Player Award for the 2021 campaign. 

Breer mentioned that Smith will “get the benefit of working with Tom Brady’s body coach, Alex Guerrero, who was working with the Raiders last year and has worked closely with some of their stars, such as (pass-rusher) Maxx Crosby.” 

Perhaps the combination of Guerrero and Brady can both get the best the football world has seen out of Smith and help Las Vegas’ new QB1 extend his career beyond the expiration of the extension he signed this spring.