In an attempt to block out the 2025 NFL season, in all of its horror, Las Vegas Raiders fans may have forgotten that Geno Smith is still on the roster. And under contract through 2027. Ever since the clock ran out in Week 18, it has been all Fernando Mendoza, all the time.
But the Raiders still have to decide what they're going to do with Smith. They owe the veteran quarterback $26.5 million next season, and cutting him, while it would save them $8 million against the cap, would put them $18.5 million in the hole for a player who won't suit up for them.
Trading him is a dream scenario, as that would wipe his entire contract off the books for the 2026 NFL season. After the campaign Smith put together in Las Vegas, however, another team wanting him seems incredibly unlikely.
Or is it?
Raiders trading Geno Smith to Jets would be cruel and unusual punishment
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently spoke with various NFL executives around the league and asked them to make some bold predictions for the upcoming offseason. One anonymous executive believes that either Geno Smith, Kyler Murray or Tua Tagovailoa will be traded to the New York Jets.
"This notion isn't exactly bold -- all three quarterbacks appear to not be in the long-term plans of their current franchises. But they are each former Pro Bowlers and several teams have a glaring need at the position each year.
"'Do the Jets get one of those three -- that's really the question I have,' an AFC executive said. 'They could go young and load up for the 2027 draft of quarterbacks, but the head coach [Aaron Glenn] probably needs to win, so he might need more of a reliable option.'"
Being traded to the Jets would be a slap in the face to Smith for several reasons. One is that being dealt to bad franchises in two consecutive offseasons would be detrimental to his career. Perhaps it would signify that the end is near, if it is not already present.
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More brutal for Smith would be returning to the place that he, literally, got hit in the face by his teammate as a rookie, breaking his jaw and placing him out for several months. Smith was drafted by the Jets back in 2013 and utterly failed there, so going back would drum up some bad memories.
No love is lost between Smith and the franchise or fanbase, but Raider Nation has to at least admit that sending the veteran quarterback back to New York would be brutal. Fans really, really don't like Smith. But remember that he is a human being.
Smith will always get credit in NFL circles for his perseverance, as he picked himself up by his bootstraps and squeezed out an average professional career after some bumps and literal bruises in his early years.
Dishing him to the Jets would be great business for the Raiders, and under a completely new regime in New York, maybe it'd be good for Smith, too. But the optics of it would just be horrible for Smith, who is already standing over the cliff of his NFL career. A trade to the Jets might nudge him off.