Seahawks Geno Smith named best deep passer for the 2022 season
Seahawks QB Geno Smith’s best attribute, his deep ball, was named the league’s best deep passer.
Geno Smith, the Seattle Seahawks' breakout quarterback, enjoyed a resurgence in 2022 by way of his deep ball.
As a result, Smith was recently voted the best deep-ball-passer by NFL Gameday via Twitter. Directly behind Smith was Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles.
"What vaulted Smith up to the top spot was just how productive he was when throwing deep," NFL.com writes. "Nearly half of Smith's 30 touchdown passes came on deep passes, and his 13 downfield scores led all quarterbacks. This rate of success was stellar: 25.4 percent of Smith's deep attempts produced touchdowns in 2022.
"With this in mind, it's easy to see how he finished with a deep passing EPA [expected points added] of +42.3. Going deep was highly rewarding for the Seahawks with Smith at the controls, helping him finish third in passer rating on such attempts. Add in a CPOE [completion percentage above expected] of +13.2% — which leads all quarterbacks on this list — and it's easy to see why he was the best deep passer of the season."
He completed 24 of 51 deep passes for 719 yards and 13 touchdowns with only two interceptions, good for a 116.6 passer rating, according to NFL Next Generation Stats.
In total, Smith threw for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns on a league-best 69.8 completion percentage. As a result, he won NFL Comeback Player of the Year. And he also gave the NFL world one of the best quotes in recent memory: "They wrote me off, I ain't write back though."
As a result of his play in 2022, Smith earned a three-year contract extension and is the probable starter heading into the 2023 season.
The Seahawks also added weapons through the draft, most notably Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who will play in the slot next to Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf.
Now it is up to Smith to live up to his 2022 season, setting himself apart as not a one-year wonder.
Feature image via Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports.