Seahawks tap vet QB Smith to start season; other QB notes … No big surprise here as Seattle has named Geno Smith as the Seahawks starting QB when the open the season on September 12th against former teammate Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. Smith, whose last starting gig was with the Jets back in 2014, had been locked – no pun intended – in a duel for the Seahawks’ starter’s job with Drew Lock this pre-season. In fact, neither was particularly impressive through the pre-season schedule, but Smith got the job as he simply took better care of the football. What it all suggests in that barring a trade or some such, the Seahawks, who have a ton of draft capital after trading Wilson to Denver this off-season, figure to be very much in the hunt for one of the top QBs at the 2023 draft. Meanwhile, if there was any doubt at all about Baker Mayfield’s status as Carolina’s starting QB heading into the season, they were erased this weekend when Sam Darnold, whom Mayfield had been battling for the job, suffered what is being described as a very serious ankle injury in last night’s pre-season win over Buffalo. Indeed, there are concerns in Carolina that the injury could be season-ending and force Darnold to IR. At the same time, a lot of will be on San Francisco this week as team’s get down to the 53-man roster to see whether the 49ers finally trade former starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo, although at this time it is not believed that there is a whole lot of interest in the player who is coming off off-season should er surgery. In the end, the 49ers may just sit tight with Garoppolo in the hopes that some team finds itself desperate at the position this fall because of an injury. Stay tuned!
