Geno Smith Trade Does Jaguars No Favors in 2025 Draft

For the Jacksonville Jaguars and their prospects of trading down in the 2025 NFL Draft, it certainly has been an eventful offseason.

Sitting at No. 5 overall, the Jaguars' two best hopes of dealing picks for the fifth pick in order to draft a quarterback have been the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets.

Entering the offseason, neither team had a clear answer at quarterback for 2025 or beyond, making both clearly quarterback-needy when it comes to next month's draft. The other teams who are most in need for a starting quarterback -- the Tenneessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants -- will pick before Jacksonville.

That is why when the Raiders struck out in the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes, it seemed like the Jaguars' chances of moving down and getting more draft capital. The Raiders were clearly desperate for an answer at the quarterback position, and losing Stafford meant they had one less potential answer.

But then the Geno Smith trade happened. Now, things look very different.

The Raiders traded a third-round selection to the Seattle Seahawks for Smith earlier this week, one of the most shocking moves of the early offseason. It wasn't shocking due to the Raiders' need, but because Smith is a quality starting quarterback who few saw departing the Seahawks.

Adding Smith doesn't mean the Raiders couldn't still consider a quarterback -- likely Colorado's Shedeur Sanders -- at No. 6 overall. But it does erase their desperation, and thus erases any need for them to trade up to No. 5 to ensure they get their guy.

With the Raiders no longer needing to trade up to No. 5 for a quarterback, that begs the question of whether the Jets even need to consider it anymore. If their quarterback fell to No. 5, their only likely competition was set to be the Raiders at No. 6. With the Raiders now having Smith in the fold, the Jets can likely test their luck and stick at No. 7.

The Jaguars can still find trade partners at No. 5. Trading down is always amongst the best answers possible, as the Jaguars have proven over the last two seasons. But for now, you can likely count the Raiders and Jets out of it.

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