New York Jets Land Their QB

The New York Jets were one of the sneaky winners yesterday as free agency opened. With the NFL's legal tampering period beginning, it allowed teams and players to agree to deals, although nothing could officially be signed. 

Yesterday, the Jets went heavy into the defensive side of the ball as the vast majority of players they agreed to deals with were not just defensive players, but likely all starters next year. 

When the Jets entered this offseason, they had two large questions to answer. How do we fix our defense, and who's going to play quarterback for us next season? Although they won't likely be a top-five defense, the first question was primarily answered yesterday. 

The question of who would play quarterback for the New York Jets was answered today, and it's quite the reunion. 

The prodigal son has returned to New York. Today, it was announced that the New York Jets have traded a 2026 6th-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for Geno Smith and a 2026 7th-round pick. 

This is quite the homecoming for Smith, whose career has frankly been all over the map. Smith was drafted to the New York Jets in 2013 after a stellar career at West Virginia. 

His first four seasons with the Jets were nothing but tumultuous, including an incident in 2015 where Smith suffered a broken jaw and missed weeks after being punched by his teammate at the time, IK Enemkpali

After a wild ride for him in New York, he bounced between the Giants and Chargers before finally landing on the closest semblance of a home for him: the Seattle Seahawks. 

It took a couple of years, but when he got his chance in 2022, from then to 2024, he had the greatest stretch of his career. A legitimate starting QB who threw for over 4,000 yards in two of those three seasons, and helped make the Seahawks a team you couldn't look past. 

This success got him a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, where everything fell off the hinges. It was a brutal year for Smith and the Raiders as he threw for barely over 3,000 yards and had nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns. 

Now, he'll return to his first home in the Jets with weapons around him like Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, Mason Taylor, Adonai Mitchell, and whoever the Jets decide to draft with their 11 total picks. 

Hopefully for Smith and Jets faithful, he'll be able to recreate some of that success he found in Seattle. 

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