QB Rankings: Where Does Seahawks' Geno Smith Rank After Six Games?

Where does Smith rank among all starting signal-callers through six games? How much has the three-game losing streak affected his ranking?

Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) passes while under pressure from San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

With the Seattle Seahawks sitting at 3-3, it's fair to say Geno Smith's 2024 campaign has been a mixed bag to this point. Not all of the team's struggles can be pinned on Smith. He still is one of the most efficient and accurate quarterbacks in the league, by the metrics. Ryan Grubb's offense has been hot and cold to this point.

Let's dive into where Geno Smith ranks against his fellow NFL starting quarterbacks.

Passing Yards: 1,756 (1st)

Big Time Throws (Per PFF): 9 (T-7th)

Pro Football Focus Grade: 77.5 (9th)

Turnover Worthy Play Rate: 2.3 (T-9th best)

Adjusted Completion Percentage: 76.6 (10th)

ESPN's QBR: 62.0 (14th)

Yards Per Attempt: 7.1 (17th)

Passer Rating: 87.0 (22nd)

By these metrics, Geno Smith is still an above-average quarterback in the NFL. In fact, some still have him as top-10. Passing yards can be a deceiving stat, since a lot of quarterbacks can wrack up empty yards while the team frantically tries to come back while trailing. Even still, Smith leads the league in passing yards, which shows his ability to connect with pass-catchers and create explosive plays.

Big Time Throws, by Pro Football Focus, are defined as throws "with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window." Smith is seventh-best in the league in this metric, better than the likes of Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff and Jayden Daniels.

While being aggressive in tight windows, he is still accurate and tends to avoid turnover-worthy plays at a high rate. Yes, he had some head-scratching throws against the 49ers. However, in the 2024 season as a whole, Smith has avoided turnovers at a better rate than the average NFL quarterback. The West Virginia product remains top 10 in avoiding turnover-worthy plays and also in completion percentage when not counting drops against him.

Metrics that can carry more weight as they are more over-arching numbers are the QBR and passer rating scores. Those have Smith right around league average, with a noticeable drop-off during the losing streak. ESPN's QBR "values the quarterback on all play types on a 0-100 scale adjusted for strength of opposing defenses faced." If just considering the matchup with the 49ers last Thursday, Smith ranked 19th among all quarterbacks during this Week 6 slate. This is after he spent the majority of the first four weeks inside of the top 10.

Seahawks on SI Ranking: 11th

Smith still should be considered an above-average quarterback. With the recent team struggles, the shine has worn off a bit. Certainly, he has made his share of blunders along the way. There were a few missed and downright inexcusable throws against San Francisco. It was his lowest rated game of the entire season and second lowest in his three seasons as the starter in Seattle (last year against Mike Macdonald's Ravens being the worst).

Still, he remains among the most consistently accurate and efficient passers in the league. This is a league where a lot of quarterbacks have shown flaws lately. Hardly any quarterback is without a blemish six weeks into the season. With Smith's recent play, he falls just outside the top 10. A strong showing against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday could catapult him back into the top 10.