THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The hype is nice, but now up to Geno to prove it for Seahawks
Thanks, but no.
I’ll pass on drinking the Kool-Aid.
Hey, I’m already on record as saying that Geno Smith is a useful NFL quarterback.
You can win a lot of games with Geno taking snaps.
But anointing the Seahawk QB as a potential Hall of Famer before he throws a pass in his third year with Seattle is a little much.
I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Everyone in the building, from new coach Mike Macdonald to assistants and teammates, to the guy who serves the protein drinks, cannot stop talking about Geno.
This was after two days in pads, mind you.
OK, the guy’s a solid pro quarterback, but I don’t think he stacks up with Patrick Mahomes — let alone leaving the two-time Super Bowl champion off to the side of the road.
Oh, yeah.
A Seattle radio station pulled together a story ranking QBs with league analyst Warren Sharp.
The specific point was nailing down what a quarterback is worth, here at a time when the money keeps rising to the stratosphere.
According to Spotrac, Smith will earn $25 million this season — with nothing guaranteed beyond that.
Geno’s salary, by the way, is tied for 35th among his peers.
SO, WHAT are these various teams getting for all the money they’re shelling out?
There are plenty of ways to rank the elite quarterbacks, of course.
Sharp went for an advanced stat that looked at incompletions — specifically, the rate caused by inaccurate passes on throws traveling 10-plus yards with a minimum of 200 attempts.
Smith was at the very bottom of the NFL at 21.6 percent.
In case you wondered, yes, hitting bottom is a good thing on this chart.
The best.
The 33-year-old Smith ranked just ahead of Jake Browning (2.2 percent) and nearly 3 percent better than Mahomes (24.5 percent).
Worth noting: Love checked at the sixth-highest rate at 36.2 percent, Lawrence seventh-highest at 36.1 percent and Tagovailoa was also well above Smith at 34.3 percent.
Sharp’s ranking wasn’t intended to show that Geno is the league’s best quarterback (obviously), but only that the Seahawks have a guy who isn’t just chucking the ball away to earn his wage.
On the other hand, it seems to prove that Geno takes care of the ball — and stays within his talent limit when caught in a crowd and forced to make a decision.
Now, then.
There are so many ways to rate QBs.
Guys like Mahomes (and Tom Brady before him) prove their work with silverware, and that’s the ultimate prize, no.
All this hubbub at Seahawks camp about Smith looking stronger, sharper and more focused than ever doesn’t mean a thing unless it turns into wins — and division titles, and deep playoff run.
It’s helpful not wasting throws on incompletions, but frankly, tossing touchdown passes is a better list if you’re looking at a won-lost record.
I THINK it’s neat that the whole gang at camp has begun talking about Geno as though he’s the second coming of Johnny Unitas.
They’re going to run out of adjectives pretty soon.
“The way he’s been playing lately is just out of his mind,” cornerback Devon Witherspoon said.
“All the throws, all the keys, checks he’s making, he’s very on point right now, and (we’re) kind of making it hard for him, but he’s really making it hard for us as well.”
To be fair to Geno, he seems like a guy who’s never had this shot.
He spent the off season traveling around, meeting and throwing with various groups of teammates.
“Communication, this brotherhood, this camaraderie and then just the way we work, bro, that’s what gonna take us to the Super Bowl,” Smith said.
“That’s where we’re going, you feel me?”
Macdonald made it clear he was “feeling it” on the first day of camp this week.
“It just shows what type of guy Geno is and the type of guys we have on our offense, him as a leader and the mission he’s on,” Macdonald said.
“Really respect how he has approached everything. much of a great worker he is. And he looked really good today.”
It’s all a bundle of sunshine, flung out into the world so that this career backup QB and his teammates can believe dreams are possible.
Not likely.
But what else are you going to say about your quarterback?
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.
Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”
JASON REDMOND/Associated Press Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith warms up during practice in Renton, Wash., on July 24.