The Las Vegas Raiders not only got an upgrade at the quarterback position, but they got a guy who is going to be paid like a top 15 quarterback in the league in former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith.

They traded for the guy, but the new head coach and former Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll, wants Smith to be the quarterback of the future. So, he will get a new deal, likely one that has him paid in the near $40 million APY. And if you're going to be paying a quarterback that amount of money, you want to make sure he's going to be worth it. Smith is, and he's even more worth it playing for the Raiders.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DG6txdBy51L

When you play for the Raiders, you have so many eyes on you not only because you're in Vegas, but the Raiders haven't had a great quarterback in a very, very long time. And to make things even better for Smith, he is going to be playing in an environment where he thrives a ton, and the stats back it up. His game should translate better in Las Vegas than it did in Seattle, that's if the Raiders can continue to put pieces around him via free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.

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Raiders' new QB Geno Smith thrives inside dome stadiums

Smith has spent most of his career playing in outdoor stadiums. Back in West Virginia, they have an outdoor stadium that does tend to get a bit cold in terms of the weather when football season rolls around. And, at West Virginia he was great. Then he was drafted by the New York Jets, where, admittedly, nothing went right for him. He then went on to play for the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers before they moved into SoFi Stadium, where they played in an outdoor soccer complex.

You go to Seattle and you play in some pretty brutal weather outdoors, and now you find yourself indoors in Allegiant Stadium, arguably the best stadium in the NFL. You don't have to worry about the cold or heat. You can just ball out, and that's what Smith does when he plays in dome stadiums.

Mike Sando broke it down perfectly.

Geno Smith moves indoors with #raiders

His 50 #seahawks starts:

Indoors (14 starts, all on road):
30 TD, 5 INT, 110.8 rtg

Outdoors (36 starts, w/25 at home):
43 TD, 31 INT, 89.7 rtg https://t.co/1jsYUirqq1

— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) March 8, 2025

Those numbers are very different, showing that Geno is much better indoors, and it's not even close. Obviously the sample size isn't that close together, but that's what happens when your home stadium is outdoors.

He obviously plays much better indoors, so it would be safe to assume, that if all goes right in free agency and the draft, we could see an even better version of Geno Smith on the Raiders.

Geno Smith trade is a calculated risk that can put Pete Carroll and the Raiders in a win-win situation

The Las Vegas Raiders need a quarterback and when looking at this draft class, as well as the free agency pool, the options are very limited. Which makes sense why Geno Smith is the franchise's new starting QB. You read that right: Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Raiders are trading one of their two […]