No bitterness, only appreciation from Geno Smith before must-win vs. his former Jets

If any guy on Earth has a reason to be mad at and feel jobbed by the New York Jets, it’s Geno Smith.

In 2013 the Jets drafted Smith in the second round out of West Virginia. They made him their starter from week one of his rookie season, at age 22. After he started again for New York in 2014, teammate Ikemefuna Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw with a sucker punch in the Jets locker room seven years ago.

Smith lost his starting job because of how his backup Ryan Fitzpatrick played for the Jets while he was recuperating from his jaw.

Smith started only one more game for the Jets after that, and only two in the next 6 1/2 seasons. He spent seven years as a backup for four teams. Smith’s never had the security of a multiyear contract in the NFL, beyond his rookie deal from 2013 with the Jets.

Until what he’s about to seize now.

Geno Smith’s revival

Smith has revitalized his career in year 10. He won a preseason competition with Drew Lock to replace traded Russell Wilson as Seattle’s starter. Smith has led the NFL in completion percentage all season. He made his first Pro Bowl. Through achieving multiple incentives he’s turned the $500,000 guaranteed to him for 2022 before this season into virtually all of the maximum $3.5 million he can earn for this year from the Seahawks.

He’s on his way to getting a generational contract that will set his grandchildren’s children for life, $20 million per year or more. His one-year deal with Seattle ends with this season. He has two games left in the regular season. He must win them both and, with a loss each by Green Bay and Washington over the last two weeks, he would lead the Seahawks (7-8) unexpectedly into the playoffs.

That first of Smith’s two must-wins is Sunday at Lumen Field against...you guessed it, the Jets.

Yet asked multiple times this season if he feels vindication, Smith has said he feels none. He says he’s always known he was this good to be a full-time starter for a playoff contender.

Given the opportunity Thursday to call Sunday’s game larger than most and asked if he has extra motivation this week, Smith demurred again.

He said he will always love the Jets — even after they didn’t exactly love him back seven years ago.

“Not anything for me,” he said. “I just feel like the importance of it is that we need a win to get to the playoffs.

“Obviously, there will be some speculation and talk about that. It comes with the territory. It is to be expected. I have a lot of love for the Jets, the organization and the people that are still there that were there when I got drafted.”

What Smith appreciates most from his four tumultuous seasons with New York is simply the chance.

“Obviously, for drafting me and giving me an opportunity to be in the NFL and live out my dream,” Smith said. “There are a lot of names, too many to name right now, but my time there, I really appreciated it. It helped me grow as a man.

“It was a good time for me. It was a time for me to learn and grow in the league, and it was good.”

The narrative out of New York as he threw 34 interceptions in his first 30 games while winning only 11 of 29 starts in 2013 and ‘14 was Smith had failed; he was not worthy of being an NFL starting quarterback.

Fact is, those Jets teams coached by Rex Ryan finished 8-8 and 4-12 had bad defenses. They were just bad, period. Those New York teams were ranked in the bottom of the league against the pass. They allowed 57 touchdown passes against only 19 interceptions the two seasons Smith was their starting quarterback.

Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre may not have won much on those Jets teams.

“I didn’t really pay attention to the narratives. I just kind of stayed grounded in who I was. I can’t really tell you what the narrative was,” Smith said.

“I know, as far as playing, people might have given up on my ability to play this game at a high level. But outside of that, I can’t really speak on that.”

A matured, wiser QB

Time has matured Smith, as it does us all. That 22-year-old rookie is now 32. He’s wise in the ways of NFL defenses, offenses — and business.

That maturity has shown throughout this Seahawks season. The closest he’s come to portraying bitterness was minutes after he completed 23 of 28 passes with two touchdowns to beat Wilson and the Broncos on opening night in Seattle Sept. 12. And it was more defiance.

Smith looked into an ESPN camera on the field and told a national-television audience: “They wrote me off. I ain’t write back, though.”

Within weeks, Smith had filed his phrase, which he said later was off the top of his head and not scripted, to be trademarked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

He’s consistently been poised and humble, publicly, anyway, aside from a noticeable, angry outburst at the way he and the offense malfunctioned in a loss to division rival San Francisco this month. He’s more than doubled his previous career high with 27 touchdown passes this season.

“He’s a great competitor. And just for him to sit back and wait his turn and not try rush his own process or rush his own journey, he kind of just let everything play out for himself and just play out right in front of him,” Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf said.

Metcalf, in his fourth season and first since signing a $70 million contract extension this summer, already has set his career high with 86 receptions from Smith’s passes this season.

“He hasn’t tried to push or press for anything,” Metcalf said. “He kind of just let everything come to him.

“And he’s reaping the benefits from just waiting his turn right now.”

Smith’s themes have remained constant this season. They have stayed the same throughout his and the Seahawks’ surprising 6-3 start. They’ve remained through the team’s current skid of five losses in six games, during which he has looked less league MVP-like.

He’s stayed on leadership, hard work, accountability and lessons learned.

He was pitch-perfect again Thursday talking about the end of his time with the Jets, his first time not starting and not playing since he was 10 years old.

“I think that was an amazing time for me to grow and become even more of a selfless individual,” he said. “Obviously, we have our own goals. And the way things transpired wasn’t in my plans or what I had thought would happen, but it happened. You kind of take the approach of, ‘You can’t cry over spilled milk.’

“And also being a great teammate to the guys around me, not letting that hinder me from helping them succeed in any way that I can. That kind of became my career for a while, being a great teammate, trying to help guys get better, and do whatever it took to help the team win outside of playing.

“What’s different was challenging, but also taught me a lot and helped me grow.”

His future

Smith is a steadying influence in the Seahawks’ locker room. The players and coaches trust him. That is how he had the inside track over Lock to win the job since spring.

Now, can he and his recently sputtering offense get rookie Kenneth Walker running, get Tyler Lockett back from a broken hand to get Smith throwing effectively again to win two games the next two weeks?

If so, Smith’s price will rise again. The market for a quarterback who leads the league in completion rate, is near the top in passer rating and touchdown passes is likely to exceed $25 million per year, for a two- or three-year deal.

Smith has a steady, poised answer to that issue, too.

“My future is going to be great. I always think that. That’s something — if you want to know — I’m always thinking positive on that note,” he said.

His tone was steady as his words.

“The future for me is right now, today,” he said, “going out there and having a great practice and getting ready for Sunday.”