Who is the Seahawks future QB?

By: Brock Wells

All the talk about the Seattle Seahawks since the departure of Russell Wilson has been that the franchise is effectively finished. That it’s time for it to start a structural rebuild. After all, Geno Smith isn’t capable of the kind of quarterback play necessary to compete on a week-to-week basis in the NFL, right? So far, this thinking has turned out to be less true than it may have once seemed. The Seahawks are currently 3-3, and while not exactly setting the league ablaze with that record, they’re right in the mix in the NFC West division.

Beyond that, Smith has performing well on an individual basis. His 73.4 completion percentage leads the NFL, and he’s thrown just two interceptions compared to nine touchdowns. To make sense of these numbers, Wilson’s completion percentage currently sits at 58.6, with five touchdowns and three interceptions. And for all the talk about how much better than the Seahawks the Broncos were supposed to be, Smith’s Seahawks are the better of the two teams.

So, can Smith keep the job as the starting quarterback beyond this season? The answer to that question depends on the way the Seahawks play the rest of the season. Do they continue to exceed expectations and make a run for the postseason, or does the long haul catch up to them and leave them looking like what many thought before the season? Smith is 32 years old, so his best days from an athletic standpoint are likely not in front of him. But there’s more to athleticism to the quarterback position.

Let’s be real for a moment. Russell Wilson is an overrated quarterback. The Super Bowl teams he was a part of were where they were because of one of the greatest defenses in NFL history in the Legion of Boom. Wilson was good. He’s never been great. So, what if Geno Smith was just never that bad a quarterback and Wilson was just surviving based on reputation? The Seahawks aren’t truly in that different a position than they’ve been in over the last several years. They’re in a division with a Cardinals team that’s just getting its footing with the return of DeAndre Hopkins, a Rams team that has yet to steer the ship right, and a 49ers team has the same record as they do.

Smith’s job will be secure if the Seahawks win games and find themselves in the playoff picture in a couple of months. But if the team falls off in the second half of the season, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the front office to make a decision to bring in a younger quarterback, perhaps from the 2023 NFL Draft. As simple as it might seem, his future is truly in his own hands. No one seems to have a good insight into what this Seahawks team actually is.