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Bump: Why Seattle Seahawks' Geno Smith can win a Super Bowl

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Bump: Why Seattle Seahawks' Geno Smith can win a Super Bowl


When Geno Smith took over as the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback in 2022, most viewed him as simply a stopgap between Russell Wilson and whoever the franchise would eventually draft or acquire as its QB of the future.

Over the past two-plus seasons, Smith has been busy rewriting the narrative.

Rost: Geno a trailblazer in the way QBs are now finding success

And after a scintillating start to 2024, former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus is sold: If surrounded with the right pieces, Smith is good enough to help a team win a Lombardi Trophy.

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“If Geno continues to play like this and you surround him with a good defense, your offense keeps producing and your offensive line gets better, you can definitely win a Super Bowl with Geno as your quarterback,” Bumpus said Tuesday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

After spending most of his career as a backup, Smith compiled a breakout 2022 campaign that saw him lead the NFL in completion rate and earned him Comeback Player of the Year honors. He took a slight step back in 2023 – largely due to a porous offensive line – but still directed an NFL-best five game-winning drives and finished top-15 in both ESPN’s QBR metric and Pro Football Focus grading.

This year, the 33-year-old Smith has played like one of the league’s top quarterbacks. Through four weeks, he leads the NFL with 1,182 passing yards, ranks second with a 72.3% completion rate and has thrown for a league-high 57 first downs.

Smith directed another comeback win in Week 2 against the New England Patriots, completing 33 of 44 passes for 327 yards while overcoming pass-protection issues and a handful of drops from his receivers.

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And in a shootout loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night, he completed 38 of 56 passes for a career-high 395 yards, delivering a slew of key plays to help keep the short-handed Seahawks within striking distance until the final minutes. He also ran for 38 yards and finished with 433 yards of total offense, the sixth-most in franchise history.

Daniel Jeremiah: If Seahawks don’t pay Geno, another team will

“It’s not just about the percentage, the yards and the touchdowns,” Bumpus said. “It’s the moments. It’s the third-and-11 where you need a play. It’s the third-and-short where you’re sliding one in to a receiver sitting in a zone. It’s the dropping a dime on the sideline where only DK (Metcalf) can get it.

“It’s the leadership and it’s the precision in his passing in those big moments and how he does not look rattled,” he added. “… It’s the way that he’s doing it, with the pocket collapsing, him keeping his eyes down the field, rolling outside, throwing across his body. He’s in complete control at all times.”

Poised under pressure

Smith has once again been under frequent duress this season. Seattle ranks 28th in PFF’s pass block grading, which has resulted in him being pressured 69 times – the third-most of any quarterback in the league. That pressure has contributed to at least two of his four interceptions.

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But time and time again, Smith has shown impressive poise while everything is crumbling around him.

That was particularly evident during a third-quarter touchdown drive Monday night.

Facing a third-and-8 at midfield, Smith looked like he was about to be sacked as a Detroit blitzer came racing in off the edge. But instead, Smith stepped up, ducked under the blitzer, spun out of the pocket and threw a dart with two defenders in his face for a drive-extending completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Two plays later, Smith and the offense were backed into a second-and-16. With the pocket collapsing, he coolly stepped up and threw an off-balanced pass on the run to Tyler Lockett for a 29-yard gain.

“There was chaos going on around Geno,” Bumpus said. “… And Geno just stood tall. At no point did he look like he was flustered.

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“The good quarterbacks operate well under pressure in dropback (situations),” he added. “They’re able to get back there, get to that back foot, (and when) nothing’s there and the pocket is collapsing, you roll outside, you make a play. You extend the plays. You make plays right. That’s what Geno did a bunch of times last night. He’s been doing it all year.”

But as Bumpus said, his view of Smith is based on far more than just a four-game sample size this season.

The stats and metrics would agree.

Since the start of 2022, Smith ranks second in fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives, third in completion rate and fourth in passing yards. In ESPN’s QBR, he ranked seventh in 2022, 14th in 2023 and 10th this year. And in PFF grading, he ranked eighth in 2022, 13th in 2023 and 10th this season.

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“It took me two seasons and some change for him to do enough to make me believe that this is possible,” Bumpus said. “Every single year he’s gotten better at something. Last year, he was (one of) the best in the game when it came to play-action. The year before, he took care of the football was the most accurate quarterback in the league. This year, he’s doing all that and more.”

Listen to the full conversations on Bump and Stacy at this link and this link or in the audio players within this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Giants’ star rookie WR misses practice ahead of playing Seahawks
• How is Seahawks’ battle at right guard going after Week 4?
• Schlereth on Seahawks: ‘They’re better than I thought they were’
• Seahawks still flash potential despite failing in first test of ’24
• Bump: A Seattle Seahawks player whose impact is growing

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Seattle Seahawks land 2 players on list of potential salary cap cuts in 2026

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Seattle Seahawks land 2 players on list of potential salary cap cuts in 2026


No matter how the playoffs go for the Seatte Seahawks, general manager John Schneider and his team are looking at a very busy offseason ahead.

In addition to their usual preparations for the 2026 NFL draft, Seattle has a ton of important players who are about to become unrestricted free agents. That list includes special teams superstar Rashid Shaheed, running back Ken Walker and defensive standouts Boye Mafe, Riq Woolen and Coby Bryant.

It’s going to be really difficult to keep that entire group together, even with a lot of cap space projected to be open in 2026. The Seahawks may have to create room with some salary cap casualties after the season is over.

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On that note, Over the Cap has listed a pair of Seattle players as potential cap casualties. Let’s review both of them.

OLB Uchenna Nwosu

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Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Los Angeles Rams running back Blake Corum (22) dives for a touchdown against Seattle Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (7) in the second half at Lumen Field. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

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Coming in at No. 46 on OTC’s list is veteran edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu, who has one year remaining on his contract with a cap hit just over $20 million. Nwosu has been valuable when he’s on the field but he’s also missed a ton of time due to injuries and it will be difficult to justify his cap hit with so many other players to pay.

Seattle can save a little over $11.5 million if they cut Nwosu, before June 1 or after. However, they would also take on a dead money hit north of $8.5 million, which takes a lot of the flavor out of those cap savings.

In 45 games with the Seahawks, Nwosu has tallied 19.5 sacks, 52 QB hits, 24 tackles for a loss, five forced fumbles and eight pass breakups.

That’s a lot of good production across the board as an all-around defender, but he’ll turn 30 years old before next season is over and there are a lot of mouths to feed for Mike Macdonald’s defense.

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Over the Cap projects there’s a 58.5% chance that the Seahawks will wind up cutting him. Our best guess is that will be the case, especially if they want to pursue someone like Maxx Crosby on the trade market.

K Jason Myers

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Jan 3, 2026; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks place kicker Jason Myers (5) kicks a field goal against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half at Levi’s Stadium. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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The only other Seahawks player who made the list (at No. 77) was placekicker Jason Myers, where the team has an interesting choice to make.

Myers has been around since the 2019 season and he’s come through for them more often than not. In 117 games he’s converted 200 of 232 field goal attempts, coming out to 86.2%. On extra point attempts he’s gone 292/307 for 95.1%.

Those are very solid numbers for an NFL kicker, and when you have a solid option at this position you don’t mess with it.

Another factor working in Myers’ favor is that Seattle really can’t save all that much money by cutting him. According to OTC’s numbers the Seahawks would create $5.1 million in cap room by cutting him, with a dead money hit of $1,875,000.

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Five million might get Seattle a decent backup for their interior offensive line, or another contributor to Mike Macdonald’s defense. It’s not enough to really move the needle for this roster, though.

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OTC gives it a 52.5% chance that Myers will get cut, but we don’t see that happening. If they want to lower his cap hit, the Seahawks can create a little over $3 million for 2026 with an extension. That’s the only move they should be looking to make at this spot.

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Kraken Extend Streak In Comeback OT Loss | Seattle Kraken

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Kraken Extend Streak In Comeback OT Loss | Seattle Kraken


And while Dunn’s head coach insisted afterwards he doesn’t believe in “measuring stick games” the Kraken measured up fairly well in this one considering they played a pretty poor first period and needed half of the second frame to get any type of offense going against the league’s No. 2 defensive unit.

But they eventually got it going and the salvaged point, as Dunn mentioned, was huge in that it allowed the Kraken to remain in third place in the Pacific Division – just two points behind leaders Vegas and Edmonton – as they now embark on a five-city road trip. They extended their points streak to 10 games in the process, going 8-0-2 that stretch to transform a season hinging on the brink.

Mats Zuccarello got the overtime winner for Minnesota, converting a Kirill Kaprizov pass off a 2-on-1 break after the Kraken had been foiled just moments prior on their own odd-man rush. That foiled an outstanding night for Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer, who’d made several huge stops in both overtime and the third period to keep things tied, as well as prior to that frame to give his team the shot at a comeback.

The Kraken had spent the past week filling opposition nets with pucks but waited until the final 17 minutes to score their first goal of this game. By that point, they’d been trailing 2-0 since a pair of 42-foot wrist shot goals by Ryan Hartman and Brock Faber in the first period silenced the home crowd.

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“The first period was awful, and our execution was probably the biggest part of that,” Dunn said. “It’s just tough when you’re chasing the game a little bit to start the game. So, we kind of set ourselves up for the second period to come out and play the right way and I thought as the game went on, we got a lot better.

“And I thought it was a pretty competitive game both ways. A lot of chances both ways.”

Grubauer kept things close from there, stopping 31 of 34 shots on the night to give his team a chance to get back in it.

Adam Larsson then got the Kraken on the board three minutes into the final period with a slap shot goal from the right circle after Dunn had rung one off the post on a prior blast seconds earlier. And the Kraken weren’t done yet.

The Wild ran into penalty trouble not long after and the Kraken capitalized on the power play with Matty Beniers banging home a net front rebound off a Jared McCann shot that lifted the home side into a 2-2 tie and sent the Climate Pledge Arena crowd into a frenzy.

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Valter Walker vs. Marcin Tybura booked for UFC Seattle

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Valter Walker vs. Marcin Tybura booked for UFC Seattle


Heavyweights will collide in “Rain City.”

MMAmania.com confirmed with multiple sources today (Thurs., Jan. 8, 2026) that No. 10-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Marcin Tybura will take on surging Brazilian prospect Valter Walker at UFC Seattle on Sat., March 28, 2026, inside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.

Walker (15-1) stumbled out of the gate in his UFC debut, suffering a loss to Lukasz Brzeski in 2024. Since then, however, “Clean Monster” has completely rewritten the narrative — and the UFC record books.

Walker opened 2025 by submitting Don’Tale Mayes with a heel hook (watch highlights), his second straight victory via the technique. Five months later, he followed it up with another first-round heel hook against Kennedy Nzechukwu (watch highlights), setting a new UFC record for most consecutive heel hook submission wins with three.

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But he wasn’t finished.

At UFC 321 in Oct. 2025, Walker once again locked in a first-round heel hook — this time against Louie Sutherland — tying Rousimar Palhares for the most heel hook submissions (four) in UFC history while extending his own record for consecutive heel hook finishes (watch it).

A win in Seattle would almost certainly vault Walker into the Top 10 of the Heavyweight rankings.

Tybura (27-10), meanwhile, will be defending his No. 10 spot when he steps into the cage. The Polish veteran went 1-1 in 2025, handing highly touted U.K. prospect Mick Parkin his first professional loss at UFC London before suffering a quick knockout loss to debuting Ante Delija at UFC Paris (watch highlights), snapping a two-fight win streak.

Now 40 years old, Tybura is 5-3 over his last eight appearances.

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Here are some other bouts currently scheduled for UFC Seattle:

Casey O’Neill vs. Gabriella Fernandes

Alexa Grasso vs. Maycee Barber

Nicolle Caliari vs. Carol Fiori

To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.

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