Geno Smith didn’t have a good game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6 on Thursday Night Football. The Seattle Seahawks quarterback threw two interceptions and both looked like horrific passes. The first was an overthrow of Tyler Lockett on Seattle’s first drive of the game. It seemed like a promising beginning, but it ended in disaster.

The second interception looked just as bad, but whether Smith is entirely to blame for the pick is open to debate. He tried to get the ball to receiver DK Metcalf and appeared to underthrow the ball miserably. To be fair to Smith, Metcalf didn’t seem to get out of his route and Smith probably threw the ball where he thought Metcalf would be (and should have been).

Still, the quarterback is the one who threw the pass, and his name will be attached to the interceptions, whether it’s right or wrong. After the game, Smith initially took over both picks, but when pressed about other bad throws, he simply said “watch the film.” Smith took the blame, but he may not have really felt guilty.

One problem was that Smith had to carry the team at times this season, proving his worth again on Thursday Night Football against Seattle’s NFC West rival. He failed. In addition to the interceptions, he threw many passes too high for his receivers in the first half and missed an open Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the fourth quarter.

He also missed seeing a wide-open Kenneth Walker III late in the fourth quarter when Smith was forced to scramble and instead threw short. The problem was that Walker was on the side of the field where Smith was running. He should have been able to see Walker. Another quarterback might have done that.

That question is the biggest one the Seahawks will have to answer next season: Would Seattle be better off with another quarterback as early as 2025? Should Sam Howell, the much cheaper option at quarterback, take over for Smith? If Seattle were to release Smith, the team would save $25 million. Do the savings outweigh the value of retaining Smith?

Smith isn’t a bad quarterback, but he’s not a great one either. He’ll never be great. He’s now 34 years old, and even though he hasn’t played much as a backup for years and hasn’t gotten beat up, he’s still not going to suddenly get much better. He’s good enough to win a lot of games, but he’s not so great that he can consistently beat better teams like the 49ers. To win a Super Bowl, Seattle might need a quarterback who can do that.

The key here is the offseason acquisition of Howell. He only owes just over $1 million in 2025. He also has starting experience. He hasn’t yet shown that he is a high-end winner, but he is also only 24 years old. If the Seahawks go 9-8 again, wholesale changes may need to be made. That could include releasing Smith, saving $25 million and inserting Howell as QB1 for at least one season next year.

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