The Raiders held a press conference with quarterback Geno Smith on Monday to discuss the contract extension he signed after being acquired in a trade with the Seahawks last month and Smith showed a lot of love for head coach Pete Carroll when sharing his excitement about being in Las Vegas.
Carroll made it clear that the feeling is mutual. Carroll gave Smith a shot to return to the starting ranks after Russell Wilson left the Seahawks and Smith made the most of it by leading the Seahawks to the playoffs. He was also named the comeback player of the year and Carroll said on Monday that their history leaves him feeling confident about the impact Smith will have while playing the most crucial position on offense.
“He’s going to bring us great stability and belief in the kinds of things that we stand for,” Carroll said. “His habits are so, so stellar. The way he works, the way he looks at the game, the way he looks at the challenges of it all is exactly in line with the way we think. He’ll represent us in magnificent fashion. I think it gives us instant stability in a crucial spot. The history that we have and my understanding of G, and how to help him be the best he can be, and he knows how to bring out the best in our system because he’ll stand for the competitiveness and the things that we believe in.”
Stability has been in short supply around the Raiders in recent years, but the renewed partnership between Carroll and Smith has a chance to change that.
New Raiders quarterback Geno Smith says the opportunity to learn from the team’s minority owner, Tom Brady, is a major reason he’s excited about being in Las Vegas.
Smith said he has always admired Brady and wanted to emulate him as a quarterback, from being a fan to playing against him, and now he gets to work for him.
“It’s Tom Brady,” Smith said. “It’s a guy that I’ve idolized and looked up to, and I believe he does things the right way, and I think that’s something I wanted to take from just watching his game from afar.”
Smith said he has spoken to Brady since getting traded and hopes that Brady is a big influence on the Raiders.
“I got a chance to talk to him, went to his home and spent about an hour and just talked ball with him and talked life,” Smith said. “You understand why he is who he is immediately. He takes everything extremely seriously, he’s a diligent worker and he believes in hard work. I think we align that way. I want to be a sponge. I want to soak up as much knowledge as I can from him. I want to learn as much as I can from him, the greatest quarterback to play the game. There’s so much you can learn. I think the main thing is that I’m here to win, I’m here to do the right things, just as he did.”
Ashton Jeanty is the overwhelming favorite to be the first running back drafted. The Raiders are the favorites to draft the former Boise State star.
Via DraftKings, Jeanty is a -5000 favorite as the first tailback off the board. He’s a -130 favorite to go to the Raiders, who hold the sixth overall pick.
The Bears are next, at +250. The Cowboys are +800. The Jaguars are +1200. The Saints are +1300.
North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton is favored to be the second running back taken, at +1800. With Jeanty getting all of the buzz, it’s easy to overlook Hampton.
In his running back draft rankings, Simms has them closer together than most. And it’s not impossible to think that someone likes Hampton more than Jeanty — and that Hampton could potentially go before Jeanty.
Crazier things have happened. In 1999, with all the focus on Ricky Williams, Edgerrin James was picked before him. Two years ago, Jahmyr Gibbs was taken nearly as high as Bijan Robinson.
With 2024’s resurgence of running backs, plenty of teams might be looking at running backs differently in the draft. Especially the best of them.
After the Seahawks traded quarterback Geno Smith to the Raiders, Seattle G.M. John Schneider said that the team made an offer to Smith — and that it wasn’t “a very long negotiation.”
As it turns out, there was no negotiation at all. Smith told Albert Breer of SI.com that his representatives didn’t even counter the offer the Seahawks had made.
It was more than the money, which fell “well shy” of the desired APY. The issue was the structure, which once again didn’t fully guarantee payments beyond the first year of the deal. It meant that the Seahawks would continue to have the same year-to-year flexibility with Smith.
And it’s the same year-to-year flexibility they have with his replacement, Sam Darnold.
Enter the Raiders. More importantly, enter Pete Carroll. With Smith’s former Seahawks coach not in the league in 2024, there were no limitations on Carroll’s ability to talk to Smith. About anything.
And talk they did.
“I would call him whenever I got frustrated,” Smith told Breer. “He talked me through things, and he still coached me. And I think that’s what makes him such a special man, is that he was coaching me even when he wasn’t my head coach. A lot of the things that he was telling me, a lot of conversations we had really kept me steady throughout the season, and kept my head on straight. Because, again, man, this is a team that I gave everything I had to.”
Smith was frustrated last year in part because he didn’t get an extension from the Seahawks. And nothing would have prevented Carroll and Smith from agreeing to try to partner up in 2025, if Carroll gets another job.
Such a plan would have violated no rules, as long as they stopped talking after Carroll took the Las Vegas job. And, as it turned out, Smith and Carroll are together again. And Smith has the new contract he didn’t get in Seattle.
Still, Smith has landed in a tougher spot. Regardless of whether the Seahawks and Raiders have similar overall talent, the AFC West is much more loaded than the NFC West.
And the clock will be ticking on both Smith and Carroll to get things turned around. Quickly.
Jack Jones’ time with the Raiders has officially come to an end.
The Raiders announced on Monday that they waived the cornerback — a move that was initially reported on Sunday.
Las Vegas had tried to find a trade partner for Jones, but one did not emerge.
Jones, 27, recorded 16 passes defensed and three interceptions in 17 games last year.
By releasing Jones, the Raiders will save $3.4 million against the cap.
Las Vegas also announced that the club had re-signed five exclusive rights free agents: defensive tackle Matthew Butler, linebacker LB Kana’i Mauga, guard Jordan Meredith, defensive end Charles Snowden, and cornerback Sam Webb.
