What’s the holdup with Geno Smith? And more on the Raiders’ plans in the NFL Draft

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PALM BEACH, Fla. — There’s a big question hovering over the Las Vegas Raiders: What’s the holdup with Geno Smith?

The Raiders officially traded for the veteran quarterback on March 13, but he has yet to be formally introduced in a news conference. While that’s unusual, there’s an easy explanation: He’s still negotiating a contract extension.

Smith is in the final year of a three-year contract he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2023. Although he was paid a $16 million roster bonus on March 16, none of his $14.8 million salary for 2025 is guaranteed. It’s unlikely that Smith would play without a new deal, according to league sources.

“We’re working on it,” coach Pete Carroll said Monday when asked about Smith’s extension. “G’s excited to get going and get started. He’ll be here when we get rolling, but we are working on it.”

According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Smith was seeking an extension with an average salary in the range of $40 million to $45 million before the trade away from Seattle. It’s unclear how many years Smith hoped to be signed for.

From a financial standpoint, the Raiders can meet Smith’s salary demands. They have over $42.4 million in effective cap space according to Over the Cap, and they’re currently projected to have the most cap room in the league in 2026.

As always, however, the amount of guaranteed money will be more important than Smith’s salary. That’ll ultimately decide how long the Raiders are tethered to Smith moving forward.

Smith will turn 35 in October and probably isn’t a long-term answer at quarterback, which could factor into the negotiations. Nonetheless, the most likely outcome remains that the two sides will agree to an extension before the start of the 2025 season.

“We’re looking forward to having him and having him for not just this year, but for the years to come,” general manager John Spytek said Monday. “When we get everything where it needs to be, he’ll be around. I’m confident that’ll happen fairly soon.”

Raiders think they got better in free agency

The Raiders entered the offseason with the second-most cap space in the NFL behind the New England Patriots, but they didn’t do much with it. Their most significant moves were trading for Smith and signing defensive end Maxx Crosby to a massive three-year, $106.5 million extension.

Call on Maxx 🦅#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/pq4DG6dkqv

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) March 25, 2025

Beyond those two deals, they were measured with their transactions. They re-signed contributors defensive end Malcolm Koonce, defensive tackle Adam Butler Jr. and safety Isaiah Pola-Mao on short-term deals. They also added several veterans in guard Alex Cappa, safety Jeremy Chinn, cornerback Eric Stokes, linebackers Elandon Roberts and Devin White and running back Raheem Mostert on cheap, short-term deals. Those are solid additions, but not big splashes.

Meanwhile, they endured significant losses. Safety Tre’von Moehrig signed with the Carolina Panthers, linebacker Robert Spillane signed with the Patriots and nickelback Nate Hobbs signed with the Green Bay Packers.

“I said early on that we’d like to keep our guys,” Carroll said. “As we entered into the process, we found out that there were a lot of guys that were interested. … And so, in managing the process, we had to spread that money around.”

Spytek said they didn’t expect Moehrig ($17 million per year), Hobbs ($12 million per year) and Spillane ($11 million per year) to receive as much money as they did. Once they realized those figures were out of their price range, they pivoted to prioritizing compensatory picks in the 2026 draft class. Those won’t be awarded until next season and are dependent on playing time, but their projection model has them receiving three compensatory picks as a result.

“Free agency is always wildly unpredictable,” Spytek said. “As we started to realize the market at some of the positions was really robust and some of these guys were going to end up leaving, we just had to make some hard decisions. … We were able to find pretty good value at some of the spots that we lost.”

The addition of Smith undoubtedly gives the offense a lift, but on paper, the defense got worse. Carroll, however, disagrees with the latter.

“I’m thrilled about the guys we picked up,” Carroll said. “You start with Geno on the offensive side, but particularly on the defensive side, we hit some numbers. We’ve got guys that have the mentality coming in here that they have something to prove.”

The Raiders didn’t want to be reckless in free agency. Spytek noted that approach won’t “make everybody (in the fan base) happy,” but he’s sticking to it.

“We were not an aggressive free agent team in Tampa outside of Ryan Jensen and Tom (Brady),” Spytek said. “In my opinion, a lot of bad deals get done on that first day of free agency. And they probably should make you feel a little bit uncomfortable because the money is so big. … We just try to hang (on) to the plan.

“This isn’t a one-year (deal). This is a build it the right way (situation). Be smart. Set the franchise in the right direction. Build for sustained success. Get it in a place where we’ve got a young roster with a lot of really good players. And then maybe there’s a free agent in Year 2 where you really go for it and you really kind of overextend yourselves. … We just try to be intelligently aggressive.”

Veteran and rookie additions at receiver?

The Raiders brought receiver Hunter Renfrow to team headquarters last week for a visit. Renfrow didn’t play in 2024, but he played for the Raiders from 2019 to 2023. The former Pro Bowler was released in 2023 after back-to-back disappointing seasons, but could make a reunion with the Raiders.

“He’s in a really good spot now where he wants to continue his career,” Spytek said. “We would be remiss if we didn’t think about it with the respect that people in our building have for him. … Just because he was here and then took a year off doesn’t mean we can’t have him back.”

The presence of tight end Brock Bowers may lessen the need at receiver, but the Raiders still only have two starting-caliber receivers in Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker. Other free agent receivers of note include Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper and Tyler Lockett, among others. Las Vegas will likely sign a veteran receiver, but that won’t stop them from drafting one, too.

“I think it’s a pretty solid draft class, too, from the top all the way through the first probably 15 guys in the draft class,” Spytek said. “There are some good players.”

Could the return of Hunter Renfrow be in the cards for the Raiders? (Chris Unger / Getty Images)

The Raiders feel good about their trenches

On offense, left tackle Kolton Miller, center Jackson Powers-Johnson and right tackle DJ Glaze are locked in as starters. At guard, there will be a three-way competition between Cappa, Dylan Parham and Jordan Meredith. The Raiders feel good about whichever two guards emerge as starters. They’ll still explore adding offensive linemen in the draft, of course, but they feel they’re in good shape.

“They all look like starting-level players to me,” Spytek said. “They’re all wired the right way. They’re competitive dudes. They’ve got some size. There’s a lot of things that you like about that group, but we’re not going to stop trying to add good linemen.”

Defensively, the starting lineup is slated to be defensive ends Crosby and Koonce and defensive tackles Butler and Christian Wilkins. There’s also solid depth with defensive ends Tyree Wilson and Charles Snowden and defensive tackles Leki Fotu, Zach Carter and Jonah Laulu coming off the bench.

All paths remain open in the draft

Despite trading for Smith, the Raiders remain open to drafting a quarterback as early as the first round of the 2025 draft, according to league sources.

“Geno is an immediate fix for us, and it’s going to last us,” Carroll said. “We’re going to get a number of years from Geno at his very best. He’s healthy and ready to go. He’s as tuned in as he’s ever been, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t see some guys coming out with tremendous potential. We’re not excluding taking anybody.”

“From a team-building standpoint, I don’t think it changes our approach at all,” Spytek said. “We’re deep into the evaluation of the quarterbacks in this class, and we’re going to stay in that. … We could take one anywhere.”

Besides quarterback, other positions of note for the Raiders are running back, receiver, guard, linebacker and cornerback. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if they added prospects at offensive tackle, defensive end or defensive tackle early on in the draft.

“I don’t try to devalue any position,” Spytek said. “If we think that any of these guys are worth a high pick, then we’ll do it.”

Essentially, everything is on the table, starting with pick No. 6, in terms of which position they could target. It should also be noted that the Raiders may swing a trade to move up or down in the first round. Spytek and Carroll aren’t boxing themselves into anything.

“It’s a pretty deep draft class overall,” Spytek said. “It’s not necessarily about adding talent or the best player here, here or here. It’s about, ‘How do we put it all together and make it make sense?’”

(Top photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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