CBS Sports released a list of NFL players who have over-performed and underperformed so far this year. The list highlights the uncertainty of every NFL season.
Atop the list is Geno Smith. A former bust for the New York Jets, few gave Smith a chance to beat out Drew Lock for the Seahawks’ starting job following the trade of Russell Wilson. The 32-year-old Smith won the job in camp and has put together a career year on a Seahawks’ team that was expected to be one of the worst in the league.
Smith leads the league with a 75.2% completion percentage, while his average depth of target is 12th in the NFL, ahead of QBs such as Brady, Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow. So Smith is throwing the ball down the field at an above-average rate while still having one the best completion percentages for any QB through the past century’s first five weeks of a season.
Time will tell if Smith, who’s a free agent at the end of the year, will be the Seahawks’ QB of the future but he has certainly outperformed what anyone expected from a Seattle QB following Wilson’s departure.
Speaking of Wilson, he also made an appearance on CBS’s list, as one of the league’s most underperforming players. Wilson arrived in Denver from Seattle in exchange for three players and 5 draft picks including two first-rounders. The trade for Wilson paired with the hiring of former Packer’s offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was supposed to propel a Bronco’s team to Super Bowl contending status.
Through 5 games the results have been widely disappointing. The Broncos are 2-3, those two wins coming primarily from the efforts of a strong defense. Denver has struggled offensively with Wilson at QB. The Bronco’s have the worst red zone offense in the NFL through 5 games since the 2008 Rams, that Rams’ team finished 2-14. Denver’s most recent loss to the Colts exemplified these red zone struggles.
In an ugly Thursday night game, Denver had a chance to win the game in overtime on a 4th goal. Wilson missed a wide-open Kj Hamler and instead forced a throw over the middle to Courtland Sutton who was blanketed by Colts CB Stephan Gilmore.
This has been a frustrating season for Wilson. He has thrown for the least amount of TD’s and second worst completion percentage and passer ratings through the first 5 games of any season of his career.
This is surely not what Broncos fans thought they were getting when they traded for the 9-time Pro Bowler and gave him a 5-year $245 million dollar extension prior to the start of the season. Wilson who will be making an average of $49 million dollars a year through 2028 will need to drastically improve his play to justify the high price Denver payed to acquire him.
Seattle and Geno Smith beat the Russell Wilson led Broncos in week 1 of the NFL season. Most may have considered this an anomaly then. But 5 weeks later Smith is looking like one of the best QBs in the league, while Broncos fans have gone from clamoring to “Let Russ Cook” to wondering if their newly acquired $245 million dollar QB may be cooked himself.
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