Geno Smith Falls to Former Team Despite Admirable Performance

In his first game against his former team, Geno Smith showed the Las Vegas Raiders he can still play at a high level on Sunday. But despite his individual play, the Raiders beat the New York Jets by the score of 38-33 in a shootout.

Smith completed 20-of-31 passes for 275 yards with a pair of touchdowns. He averaged 9.4 yards per passing attempt and also ran for four more.

However, it wasn’t enough as the Jets fell to 2-6 with the loss. The Raiders are now at .500 at 4-4 in their first season after trading away the former Mountaineer.

Las Vegas shipped Smith back to the Jets in March, sending him to his third different team in as many years. The previous offseason saw the Seattle Seahawks trade Smith away after he spent several years resurrected his career there.

In addition to the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl with Sam Darnold, the Raiders were 2-13 with Smith under center last season. Smith threw for 3,025 yards while competing 67.4% of his passes, but only threw two more touchdowns to interceptions – 19 to 17.

Before being drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Jets, Smith racked up 11,662 passing yards and 98 touchdowns across three years as the starting quarterback for WVU, including 42 passing touchdowns to just six interceptions during his senior year. He finished his career near the top of most statistical passing categories for the program, leading the Mountaineers to a trio of bowl games and an Orange Bowl win.

Smith eventually washed out of New York after two seasons as the starter, playing sparsely until 2022, when he earned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award. From there, he continued having success with the Seahawks and enjoyed a career renaissance until being traded to the Raiders ahead of the 2025 season.

Find more coverage of Geno Smith at WV Sports Now.