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Las Vegas Raiders QB Geno Smith.
The Las Vegas Raiders are set to start the season with a new quarterback. They traded for Geno Smith this offseason and handed him a contract extension.
However, Smith is already 34, and the Raiders structured his contract in a way that makes it easy to get off him after two seasons. Even if Smith plays really well this year, the team will still need to be thinking about the future of the position.
Luckily, having Smith will give them some flexibility. If this season goes awry, the Raiders could end up with a high draft pick in the first round. If that happens, they may need to take advantage of it and find their quarterback of the future as soon as possible.
Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report put together a mock draft for the 2026 NFL Draft, and he projects the Raiders will select South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers with the No. 8 pick.
“The Las Vegas Raiders made arguably the best quarterback move this offseason with the acquisition of Geno Smith to provide the team with some stability,” Sobleski wrote. “The organization shouldn’t stop there, though.
“Smith turns 36 next season. He could be the perfect mentor for a young, developmental quarterback for a year, with the franchise able to move on in 2027 since the veteran signal-caller doesn’t have any remaining guaranteed money on his deal by that point.”
Sellers Called ‘Ultimate Dual-Threat’
Snellers is coming off a very promising first year as the full-time starter for the Gamecocks. He’s got a good arm and is very athletic.
He’ll need to show improvement in a number of areas this college football season, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. is very high on him.
“He looks the part. You look at Josh Allen, LaNorris Sellers is that guy,” Kiper said on “First Draft” with Field Yates. “I think the improvement that you saw from early on to the latter half of the season and running the football. He had some big-time impressive performances running the football. With that ball in his hands how he can scare the heck out of a defense and beat a defense with his legs. LaNorris Sellers is the ultimate dual-threat quarterback.”
“I think the consistency throwing the football kept improving. He had some games where accuracy wasn’t an issue. He was over 70 percent in a lot of games. In some of the big games when he was needed to come through, he did.”
Smith Needs to Have Strong Season
The Raiders are almost certainly already thinking of future plans at quarterback, but Smith can still make the case that he deserves at least a few years. Yes, he’s 34, but he also went several seasons where he barely played.
His body hasn’t had to take as many hits as other 34-year-old quarterbacks have. That said, Smith needs to have a strong first year for the Raiders. If he plays well, the Raiders likely won’t have a top-10 pick to use on a quarterback.
Head coach Pete Carroll loves Smith, but he needs to win over general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady if they’re going to ignore quarterback next year.
Austin Boyd has covered the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com since 2019. A Los Angeles native now based in Las Vegas, his featured work at Heavy includes interviews with NFL stars Darren Waller and Joe Montana, and a behind-the-scenes look at “The Shop.” More about Austin Boyd
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