In the years since Derek Carr’s departure, the Las Vegas Raiders have struggled to find a consistent option at quarterback.
One of the previous regime’s answers was to reunite Jimmy Garoppolo with Josh McDaniels, an experiment on which the Raiders quickly pulled the plug. Aidan O’Connell took over midway through that season and improved the offense.
However, the Raiders wanted to upgrade from O’Connell, so they signed Gardner Minshew II in free agency. Minshew won the quarterback competition against O’Connell but did not produce the offensive results the team expected.
O’Connell took the starting job back, and the team won a few games at the end of the season. Still, the Raiders wanted to upgrade from him.
So, they traded for Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks, reuniting him with new head coach Pete Carroll. Smith revived his career with Carroll after spending many years as a journeyman who could not stick with one team.
Many jaded Raider fans may feel as though Smith will end up just like Garoppolo and Minshew. With many years of losing football and poor quarterback play, fans are seeing the Silver and Black glass as half empty.
But that should not be the case with their new quarterback.
Although Garoppolo knew McDaniels’ system well, he struggled to engineer the offense in which Carr looked much better. Garoppolo was never much of a player who could create plays off-script, which hurt the team.
There were many reasons why Minshew did not work in Las Vegas, but one was that he turned the ball over too much. He threw 10 interceptions in 306 pass attempts, the most he has thrown in his career in a single season.
Minshew never picked up the offense either, something Smith should not have a problem with. While Smith often put the ball in harm’s way in 2024, he also creates big offensive plays.
Smith ranked ninth among all QBs with 54 throws of over 20 yards. He was also fourth in the league in passing yards in 2024.
The difference among Smith, Garoppolo, and Minshew is that he has much more of a knack for creating off-script and engineering explosive plays.
If the Raiders give Smith a good run game and a few more weapons, the offense will look vastly different with him leading the way.
