The Raiders ignored an NFL exec on the Geno Smith contract, and they might actually be right

The Las Vegas Raiders have extended Geno Smith’s contract for three more seasons. While they went against the advice of an NFL executive in doing so, the upcoming NFL Draft may have influenced their decision.

Geno Smith joined the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in 2025 through a trade with the Seattle Seahawks, who now have their own quarterback in Sam Darnold lined up for the next season. Smith is now united with head coach Pete Carroll, who he praised back in 2023.

However, with Smith’s contract set to expire after the 2025 season, the Raiders faced a decision: pursue a quarterback for the future, ride with Geno for one year and reassess in 2026, or take a different route. An anonymous NFL executive offered a reasonable suggestion—which the Raiders ultimately chose not to follow.

NFL exec says Raiders should have waited to tag Geno Smith in 2026

In an interview with The Athletic, an anonymous NFL executive said the Raiders shouldn’t rush to extend Geno’s contract because it could lead to financial trouble down the line. Instead, they suggested the team could tag him to keep him for one more year while negotiating a longer-term deal more carefully.

“They can franchise him twice, so why would they lock themselves into him unnecessarily?”, the exerc said. “Tom Brady is not going to rip it up and give him $45 million a year. They should go year to year.”

Franchise tagging is a common tactic in the NFL, allowing teams to retain players for a season at a fixed, high fee while extending talks. However, it comes with risks, especially if a player’s value rises during the season, making future negotiations more expensive.

That might be why the Raiders chose to invest in Geno now, betting on his potential, as the coaching staff appears to believe in him.

Raiders were right to extend Geno Smith’s contract

Another reason the Raiders may have felt confident in their decision is their unfavorable No. 6 position in the 2025 NFL Draft. They’re not ranked high enough to land a top-tier quarterback. The only two elite QB prospects according to experts, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, are expected to go in the top three picks—likely to the Titans, Browns, or Giants.

Sanders has already hinted at going to the Giants, making it unlikely that either he or Ward will be available when the Raiders pick. That would leave them considering less promising prospects like Jaxson Dart, whose short-term NFL projections aren’t as strong.

This means that by the end of the 2025 season, the Raiders could have been left with no contract in place for Geno Smith and no viable quarterback ready to step in if negotiations fell through. Given this context, locking in Geno now might have been the smartest move they could make to ensure some stability in the seasons ahead, regardless of how things ultimately pan out.