The Las Vegas Raiders answered their quarterback question late on Friday by trading a third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for veteran Geno Smith. Smith reunites with head coach Pete Carroll, who served as his head coach for his two Pro Bowl seasons with Seattle.
With the quarterback situation buttoned up before the start of free agency, the Raiders can now pivot to building a team around Smith and the pieces already in place. Las Vegas has plenty of resources this offseason and if the team plays its cards right, can expedite this rebuild under Carroll.
There is a litany of moves the Raiders can make with Smith now in the fold but there is one move in particular that is more obvious than the rest. With Smith under center, the Seahawks must now pair him with one of his former wideouts: Tyler Lockett.
Raiders signing Tyler Lockett after Geno Smith trade is a no-brainer
Lockett was just released by the Seahawks earlier this week as Seattle turns a new page and looks to clear its books. Smith and Lockett were a dynamic connection up in the Pacific Northwest and can bring that down to Sin City.
Lockett is no longer in his prime and is not someone who the Raiders should be tapping in as the team's WR1. In a perfect world, the Raiders would add a qualified WR1 with Jakobi Meyers as the WR2 and Lockett as the WR3 in the slot.
Even as a WR3, though, Lockett could be instrumental in the Raiders' offensive gameplan. Lockett's numbers dropped in 2024 as the Seahawks transitioned to being a run-first team but he still hauled in 49 catches for 600 yards and two touchdowns.
The year before Lockett finished with 79 catches for 894 yards and five touchdowns. Even if his stats were closer to his 2024 numbers, Lockett would help elevate the ceiling of the Raiders' offense.
It's always nice to give a quarterback someone he has familiarity with who he can rely on in got-to-have-it situations. The other option for the Raiders would be trading for DK Metcalf and while that isn't completely impossible, that is less likely with the team already trading a third-round pick for Smith.
Lockett is free to sign and won't cost the Raiders much of their ample salary-cap space. For such a cheap price, the Raiders are far better off signing a flier like Lockett than signing someone with no ties to Smith whatsoever.
The Geno Smith trade was just the first domino to fall before free agency. Signing Tyler Lockett very well could be the second.