The Draw Play

Have you ever had a friend who got into a relationship with a really bad person? A relationship that hurt that friend, maybe even abused them? The friend ends up going down a dark path of sorts, their life falling apart. They might manage to get out of the bad relationship and end up couch surfing for a bit before seeming to get things back together. You are happy for them. Maybe you aren’t as close as you used to be, but you see on social that they’ve found a new, happier place. They become easy to root for. You can even bond over looking back at that abusive ex and laughing about how far they’ve fallen.

But not every story ends well. Maybe that friend falls back into old habits, or their inherent damage causes friction in their new life, and they start to spiral again and you just sorta do your best to look away. Maybe the guilt bubbles up, but you just can’t deal with all of this again. Then, the next thing you know, that friend is right back with that mess of a person that started it all, and there’s nothing to do but take a big swig of your favorite liquor and delete their contact info.

That was a bit Hershey’s special dark for a metaphor but that’s how it has felt watching Geno Smith’s career. Geno was not a hot prospect in a bad QB year, but he was given hope and it felt like the Jets got a steal when they were able to pick him up in the 2nd round because the Bills went and picked EJ Manuel in the first. Remember that? I remember that. Why do we not talk about what a disaster of a pick that was. EJ Manuel at 16 might be one of the worst QB picks of all time. I digress.

Geno was given the keys to the Rex Ryan car that Mark Sanchez had just totaled. It felt like Geno was screwed over by the Jets but hilariously in hindsight, I’m not so sure he was. Was the team good and well run around him? No. But in many ways, this was still a better Jets team than they’ve put forth anytime since, even if it was the crumbling building of a better team that existed during the good Sanchez years. Geno did not earn himself a positive reputation with his play or his off-field behavior. Remember when he got his jaw broken by a teammate? Geno seemed like an arrogant ass and he couldn’t back it up. His tenure ended after a few seasons. He couch surfed at the Giants place for a season, just long enough to be part of a controversy there and become the first black QB to ever take a starting snap for the G-Men (embarassing stat) during the Eli benching fiasco.

He spent a year on the Chargers that nobody remembers before ending up in Seattle and suddenly being thrust into the job when Russ lost the juice and got shipped off. Everyone thought he was done, but he comes out and plays good ball and suddenly we all loved Geno Smith. He had the famous “I didn’t write back” quote and man, that quote was so good it bought him far too much goodwill. Geno played good ball in Seattle but not great ball, and while he kept the Hawks from turning into a bottom-feeder he didn’t do enough to save Pete Carroll. But he managed to save his reputation and when the Hawks traded him to Vegas to replace him with Sam Darnold a lot of fans were upset about it. Funny how that looks now.

His Raiders stint was nothing short of a disaster. While Geno didn’t exactly have a good team around him, he still fell off harder than the punch that broke his jaw. His replacement took Seattle to the promised land and he took Vegas to the #1 pick and his own presumed replacement, Fernando Mendoza. Raiders fans hated him by the end of the year and seemingly so did the Raiders themselves, as they elected to ship him off to the Jets once again for a measly 6th.

The Jets have been even worse than Geno Smith in the time since the breakup. Still no playoff berths, multiple QB busts, coaching shifts, Aaron Rodgers drama, you name it. I’m not even sure what the current Jets are doing. Last year Glenn got a pass for the rebuild, but this year it feels like they are even worse. Geno isn’t going to help this team. Do they want him to tank command them to the top like the Raiders? Humiliating. I’ve seen Jets fans already giving up on the year and I can’t blame them. Feels like the Glenn era is just filler for the real rebuild starting next year or later. Either way, I never thought I’d be talking about Geno the Jet in 2026.