Where Raiders' Geno Smith Ranks as Elite

Wasserman noted that Smith ended last season with the fourth-highest deep PFF passing grade of any quarterback in the league. This is good news for a revamped Raiders offense with Chip Kelly calling the plays.

"Geno Smith’s vertical passing prowess was his greatest strength in Seattle, which will be examined further below. Given the year-over-year variance in deep-ball performance, some different names appear when we look at PFF passing grades across a three-year sample," Wasserman said.

Smith has the highest deep PFF rating of any quarterback from 2022-2024, giving a large enough sample size to put trust in Smith heading into the season.

"One player who appears in both charts is Geno Smith, who accrued a perfect 99.9 deep PFF passing grade in his three seasons as Seattle’s starter. That’s music to the ears of his new team, the Las Vegas Raiders, who posted the third-worst deep PFF passing grade over that same span," Wasserman said.

Following Organized Team Activities, Smith noted that his goal is to make the Raiders' offense explosive this upcoming season. Smith's addition, along with several new skill position players, put the Raiders in a position to be more explosive than they have been in recent seasons.

"I think the offense is, like I say all the time, we want to be efficient. That's the main thing, right? We want to do well in the situations, the third downs, the red zones, but also, we want to be explosive," Smith said.

"And so, when teams come up and play us in man-to-man, we've got guys who are going to win those matchups. And I really feel good about where we are. Still a work in progress, but we're in a good spot, and we just got to keep working hard to get better." 

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