Since taking over as the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback in 2022, Geno Smith has enjoyed a career resurgence.

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Smith has been a Pro Bowler each of the past two years and has performed at an above-average level during that span, highlighted by some great games. But despite that, there is still a wide range of perceptions about where the 34-year-old veteran stands in the NFL quarterback hierarchy.

That is especially the case this year. Smith has thrown for a league-high 274.6 passing yards per game and ranks seventh with a 68.8% completion percentage. But he also has just eight touchdown passes in eight games and seven interceptions, which is tied for sixth-most in the league. He ranks 14th in ESPN’s QBR metric, which is only slightly above average.

FTN Fantasy’s Aaron Schatz, who writes for ESPN.com and founded the website Football Outsiders, was asked for his thoughts on Smith on Wednesday during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

Schatz responded with an interesting QB comparison for Smith: 36-year-old veteran and four-time Pro Bowler Kirk Cousins, who is in his first season with Atlanta after spending the previous 12 with Washington and Minnesota.

“I think Geno is good, but he’s not great and he’ll never be great,” Schatz said. ‘But he’s good. I mean, he’s an above-average quarterback. It’s interesting, I think with Geno you get a Kirk Cousins ​​level of play, but in a very different way. He has more athletic gifts so the highlights are higher, but the mistakes are more common. But you end up with a level of play that resembles the 11th best quarterback in the league.”

Schatz’s comparison is quite apt over the past three seasons.

Since the start of 2022, Smith has a 67.7% completion percentage, 252.6 passing yards per game, 58 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions. Cousins, meanwhile, has a 67.3% completion percentage, 272.2 passing yards per game, 61 TD passes, and 26 interceptions.

The only significant difference is Smith’s ability to use his legs. Smith has 698 rushing yards over the past three seasons, while Cousins ​​has just 130. That’s likely why Smith has a QBR of 62.8 over that span, compared to Cousins’ mark of 52.3.

Still, Smith and Cousins ​​look pretty similar when looking at where they are in QBR since becoming full-time starters. Since taking over as Seattle’s starter in 2022, Smith has ranked seventh, 14th and 14th in QBR – an average ranking of 11.7. And over the ten seasons since Cousins ​​won the starting job in Washington in 2015, he has an average QBR ranking of 12.9.

Can a quarterback of that caliber win a Super Bowl?

“If you have a strong defense and good receivers, you can absolutely win with that,” Schatz said. “But I don’t think Geno is necessarily someone who will take you to the promised land on his own.”

Listen to ESPN.com writer Aaron Schatz at this link or in the audio player at the center of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10am to 2pm or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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