Seahawks QB Geno Smith Wins 2022-23 Comeback Player of the Year Award

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has won the 2022-23 Comeback Player of the Year award, it was announced Thursday

Smith beat out New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey for the honor.

The 32-year-old took over as Seattle's starting quarterback during the 2022 season, beating out Drew Lock for the job after the franchise traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. The longtime backup was almost immediately written off, but he quickly silenced the doubters.

Smith led the Seahawks to a 9-8 finish and a berth in the postseason. He completed 69.8 percent of his passes for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 17 games, in addition to rushing for 366 yards and one score.

Prior to taking over as Seattle's starting signal-caller, Smith hadn't been a full-time starter in the NFL since the 2014 campaign with the New York Jets, which was just his second season in the league.

In two seasons as New York's starting QB, he massively underperformed, completing 57.5 percent of his passes for 5,571 yards and 25 touchdowns against 34 interceptions in 29 starts (30 games). The Jets went 11-18 in his starts.

He was New York's backup quarterback in 2015 and 2016 before serving in the same role for the New York Giants in 2017, the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018 and the Seahawks from 2019 to 2021.

Smith is now set to become a free agent, and he's expected to receive significant interest on the open market. However, the Seahawks are expected to make keeping him in Seattle a priority, with head coach Pete Carroll saying in January, "We got our guy."

Additionally, Smith expressed interest in spending the remainder of his career with the Seahawks.

"I wanna finish my career in Seattle. I wanna be here," he said after the Wild Card Round loss to the San Francisco 49ers. "The town, the city, the team, coach Carroll, the organization, they all embraced me. I was a guy who probably could've been out of the league. They embraced me, and I wanna repay them for that."

With both sides expressing interest in maintaining their union, there's a good possibility Smith will be back in Seattle in 2023.