How Raiders can bring an end to the Geno Smith experience

With a 1-4 start, this season is not going the way the Las Vegas Raiders had in mind.

Much of the blame for the early season woes have been pinned on quarterback Geno Smith. After five games, Smith is currently leading the league with nine interceptions, including throwing two in Sunday’s disastrous outing against the Indianapolis Colts. Injuries to the likes of Brock Bowers and Kolton Miller have not helped matters, but it is becoming painfully clear that Smith is not the answer the Raiders thought they had when they acquired him in March.

The question has no longer become if the Raiders are going to move on from Smith, but when they will finally do it.

Is there a path that makes Geno Smith a one-and-done proposition?

With Smith already signing a two-year extension in the offseason, it appears at first glance that the Raiders are stuck for at least the next year, but ESPN’s Dan Graziano suggested that that might not be the case.

“What’s interesting to me is that the contract Smith signed with the Raiders after the trade doesn’t really tie them to him beyond this year. He has an $18.5 million salary guarantee for 2026, after making $40 million this year. If the Raiders cut him after this season, they’d have paid him $58.5 million for one (presumably disappointing) year,” wrote Graziano.

”If absorbing $18.5 million in dead money next year to move on helps them do that, I doubt it would stand in the Raiders’ way.”

If the Raiders still plan to win in short order, the price it would take to release Smith on top of what it would cost to find his replacement would be worth it in their eyes.

Obviously, choosing to give up on Smith after just one season is far from ideal. However, with the struggles so far, opting for another solution at the quarterback position might be the only way out of the hole the Raiders now find themselves in.

Should the struggles continue, it is a certainty that the Raiders will look elsewhere for their latest attempt to find a quarterback savior.