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REX RYAN HAD just been fired as the New York Jets’ head coach in December 2014 when he pulled Geno Smith aside for one final meeting.
The Jets had just stumbled to a 4-12 finish that cost Ryan and general manager John Idzik their jobs. Smith had thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns — 13 — over his 14 starts, a continuation of the turnover binge that marred his rookie season the year before.
Ryan would later realize he shouldn’t have thrown Smith into the starting lineup right away as a raw prospect from West Virginia. But Ryan was enamored with Smith’s talent, believing he’d be the Jets’ starter for at least the next decade.
Amid all the mistakes, there were flashes of that promise during his first two seasons. As a rookie, Smith had led the Jets to eight wins despite an overmatched roster that was favored in only five games. One victory came on the road over the Falcons, when a flawless Smith threw three touchdown passes before orchestrating the decisive field goal drive.
In the 2014 finale, Smith threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns in a road win over the Miami Dolphins — Ryan’s last game as the Jets’ coach and Smith’s last game as their full-time starter. Ryan calls it the best game he has ever seen a quarterback play.
Ryan was a believer, and on his way out of the Jets’ facility in 2014, he wanted Smith to know it.
“I remember the last thing I said to him,” Ryan recalled. “I go, ‘You’re going to be a hell of a quarterback in this league. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be for me.'”
As the Buffalo Bills’ head coach in 2016, Ryan tried to trade E.J. Manuel for Smith in a swap of one-time starters who had become relegated to backup roles. While the trade never came to fruition, Ryan’s parting words have come true eight years later.
But neither Ryan nor the Seattle Seahawks could have predicted it happening like this. Smith has gone from a backup for most of the past seven years and the presumed runner-up in Seattle’s…
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