Geno Smith’s success as the Seahawks starting quarterback was a heartwarming storyline last season given how long Smith had been waiting for his second chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
The first chance went up in smoke in August 2015 when Smith got punched in the face by IK Enemkpali in the Jets locker room because he owed the defensive player money. Smith broke his jaw, which allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to take over as the Jets quarterback and sent Smith down the path of being a backup quarterback until he got his opportunity in Seattle last year.
Smith will be back at MetLife Stadium on Monday to face the Giants and one of the players tasked with stopping him was in the locker room on that fateful day in 2015. Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams said that he’s happy to see Smith looking “comfortable and confident” leading the Seahawks given what happened when they were teammates.
“It’s awesome to see,” Williams said, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “Because when I first came in the league he was the starting quarterback for the Jets, and it was a crazy eye-opener for me to see he got punched by a linebacker in the locker room and I was just like a rookie seeing this and was just like, ‘Whoa.’ . . . Since that moment, he kind of got his opportunity taken away from him and he was trying to climb back. It’s really cool to see him in a system that’s working well for him.”
The Giants defense has gotten off to a rocky start this season, so seeing Williams and company knock Smith out of his comfort zone would be a good development for them if not for the quarterback’s story arc.