Geno Smith's Remarkable NFL Comeback: A Second Chance at Success
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 The way I put it in the article was,
00:07 if you're Sam Darnold in New York,
00:09 you're Sam Darnold in Charlotte,
00:11 or you're Sam Darnold in LA,
00:12 wherever you go, you're still Sam Darnold.
00:14 That's the way it happens in the NFL.
00:16 If you get, if you're a high pick,
00:18 first round, second round,
00:20 and you're thrust into a starting lineup
00:22 very early in your career,
00:24 and it doesn't fly, and you kind of get broken,
00:27 it's over.
00:28 Now you might still make a nice living
00:31 as a backup quarterback somewhere,
00:32 and come in and maybe have a good day here and there,
00:35 and you're making a million plus to do it.
00:38 So it's a nice life, and it was for Geno
00:40 for the seven years that he was a backup quarterback.
00:43 He did very well economically,
00:46 but he wasn't playing very much at all,
00:48 especially behind Russell Wilson,
00:49 who never got hurt until 2021.
00:53 So he wasn't getting any time, he was just getting paid.
00:55 But then last year, Seahawks made the trade with Denver
00:59 for all those picks,
01:00 allowed Denver to spend all that money on Russ,
01:03 and they decided to give Geno a shot at the job,
01:06 and he has been reborn, as you said.
01:09 And this doesn't happen in the NFL.
01:11 When I talked to Ed Bouchette,
01:13 formerly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Athletic,
01:16 a great historian of the game,
01:18 he brought up Jim Plunkett, he brought up Steve Young.
01:21 I mean, that's how many decades we have to go back.
01:24 Vinny Testaverde.
01:25 This does not happen.
01:27 I don't think this story is getting enough attention.
01:30 He's 12-9 as the Seahawks' full-time starting quarterback.
01:34 He's completing nearly 70% of his passes,
01:38 and he did not take the opportunity last night
01:41 on "Monday Night Football," where everybody was watching,
01:43 to have a great game and dazzle
01:46 and have people talking about him.
01:48 But I don't think he needs to throw for 300 yards
01:51 for what he's doing to be remarkable.
01:53 (upbeat music)
01:56 [MUSIC]