Could Raiders treat Geno Smith like Falcons handled Kirk Cousins?

The Las Vegas Raiders were reportedly willing to meet Matthew Stafford's contract requests to acquire him before he and the Los Angeles Rams agreed to a reworked deal.

However, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio shared on Monday morning that the Raiders haven't yet agreed to a contract extension with Geno Smith even though Las Vegas will officially land Smith via a trade with the Seattle Seahawks when the new league year opens on Wednesday. 

Florio also speculated that the Raiders could look to grab Smith's eventual replacement during the 2025 NFL Draft similar to how the Atlanta Falcons handled their quarterback situation last offseason. 

"There’s a chance Smith is a short-term insurance policy at the position," Florio wrote about the Raiders. "The Falcons did it last year, giving Kirk Cousins $90M fully guaranteed — and another $10M vesting soon — before picking Michael Penix, Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft."

Of course, Cousins didn't know when he signed a four-year, $180M contract that included $100M guaranteed to join Atlanta roughly 12 months ago that the club could spend a first-round draft pick on Penix or a different quarterback last spring. The Falcons named Penix their starter after Week 15 of this past season, and Cousins is now hoping to be released so he can become a QB1 for a different club.

Florio added that Raiders general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady could take "a deeper dive over the next six weeks at" quarterbacks available in this year's draft. Specifically, some have predicted that Las Vegas could take Colorado's Shedeur Sanders if he falls to the Raiders at the sixth overall pick on the night of April 24. How Smith would react to such a development if he is still without a contract extension at that time is unknown. 

Smith is about to enter the final year of the three-year contract he signed in March 2023.

Per Pro Football Reference, Smith ended the 2024 season ranked 24th in the NFL with a 53.8 adjusted QBR. Only Cousins and Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tossed more interceptions (16 each) than Smith (15). 

In short, it's understandable that the Raiders may not be in any hurry to give Smith his desired extension ahead of the draft.