Las Vegas ‘Mildly Concerned’ With Geno Smith’s Performance

Through five weeks of the 2025 season, Geno Smith has failed to deliver for the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Raiders currently sit at 1-4 and are coming off a brutal loss to the Indianapolis Colts, where they were blown out 40-6. The contest was never close as Las Vegas struggled to score while Indianapolis had no problem marching up and down the field and putting up points.

Outside of Week 1 against the New England Patriots, Smith has looked shaky as a passer. Smith’s thrown a few inexplicable turnovers and even simply just missed routine throws.

While the Raiders aren’t publicly panicking, there’s at least some internal concern over Smith’s performance to this point via Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN:

I would classify it as mildly concerned. The Raiders know Smith has to play better — and soon — but there’s no sentiment that Smith is a broken quarterback. So I’m not expecting him to get benched or anything this week. Scouts I have talked to believe Smith has been too late with the ball this season and is relying on arm talent to force throws into tight windows. On the flip side, the Raiders were without their top two tight ends (Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer) and left tackle Kolton Miller on Sunday against Indianapolis. And the receiver depth is not great overall.

As Fowler and Graziano noted, Smith hasn’t had all his offensive starters available to him, which has placed a greater burden on his shoulders. Ashton Jeanty’s emergence in the backfield can ease the burden, but there seems to be an understanding that Smith needs to improve.

The pressure of having to play from behind in most games could be forcing Smith to deviate from his normal timing and mechanics, but that might be something he has to adapt to because the Raiders are the underdogs heading into most matchups.

Week 6 represents the best opportunity to bounce back, though, as they take on a hapless Tennessee Titans team that just earned its first win of the regular season. The Titans’ defense leaves much to be desired, so it’ll be interesting to see if this is the week Smith finally gets right.

Ashton Jeanty calls Geno Smith a great teammate

Ashton Jeanty’s first few weeks in the NFL went poorly, but he’s finally started to turn the corner. Jeanty credited Geno Smith for being a great teammate and encouraging him during his rough start.