There should be little question about the Seattle Seahawks‘ quarterback situation this year. Geno Smith is going to be QB1 and Sam Howell is going to be QB2. Smith has been Seattle’s starter for the last two years and his Total QBR in those seasons combined has ranked near the top of the league. He has been good, if not great.
Howell is a decade younger than Smith. Both quarterbacks are signed through 2025, and Howell is far too relatively inexpensive to release for any reason next offseason. His contract will pay him a bit over a million dollars and he has starting experience in the NFL. He would have to do something quite bad to not be a part of the team beyond this year.
Smith would save the team $25 million if released next offseason. Should he continue to play close to as well as he has for the past two years, moving on from the quarterback would be iffy. The only reason to change starting quarterbacks – again, if Smith performs as he did in 2022 and 2023 – is if the general manager John Schneider absolutely needs the money.
Being forced to release a player because of cap concerns is also very unlike Schneider. The Seahawks moved on from safeties Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams this offseason, but only because the team thought they could do better.
The question is whether Schneider believes – and no, I am not making this up – Desmond Ridder would be a better QB1 than either Smith or Howell. This is what The Wright Way Network’s Marissa Myers has proposed in a recent article. The headline literally says, “Desmond Ridder Will Be the Seattle Seahawks Franchise Quarterback in 2025”. That seems clear of Myers’ thoughts.
There is no hem or haw. Myers says Ridder will be Seattle’s future starting quarterback. In the article, she tries to tell us why.
Myers writes, in part, “Ridder is also able to utilize his mobility, as he has the capability to pick up yards on the ground and manipulate the pocket as well. Which would be essential for the Seahawks under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Coming from Washington and working with Michael Penix Jr, Ridder has a similar style of play as Penix just with more rushing upside. That would immensely help open up the offense for Grubb and the Seahawks.”
There are few stretches of truth there. First, Ridder has nowhere near the arm strength, including velocity and accuracy, that Penix has. Ridder was a good college player, but his teams did not win games because of him. More likely, the Cincinnati Bearcats won because they had players such as Sauce Gardner.
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Plus, if being able to pick up yards running is essential to Grubb’s offense, then why did the offense work well with Penix with the Huskies – who Myers says cannot run as well as Ridder? The logic is weird and flawed. And let’s be real, Ridder, a third-round 2023 draft pick, does not have more upside than first-round choice Penix.
Moreover, Geno Smith and Sam Howell are both pretty mobile. Just because Smith did not take off and run for a bunch of yards does not mean he can’t. In the past two seasons, the Seahawks quarterback has run 105 times and picked up 521 yards. That is an average gain of 5 yards per carry. In his two seasons, Ridder has run 69 times for 257 yards, an average rush of 3.7 yards per carry.
Ridder is now with the Arizona Cardinals and will be a backup to Kyler Murray. Myers is, in essence, saying that the Cardinals backup quarterback is better than Geno Smith and Sam Howell. That is, to put it plainly, just silly.
