The Seattle Seahawks gave Geno Smith another one-year contract last offseason and an opportunity to revive his career as an NFL starter. This was Smith’s fourth year in Seattle and his first chance to be a full-time starter with Russell Wilson gone. Let’s take a look at Smith’s contract situation, his outlook for potential salary as a free agent in 2023, and his net worth in terms of his NFL career earnings so far.
Geno Smith’s Contract and Salary in 2023
Smith’s current contract is a one-year deal with a base value of $3.50 million. He received a $500,000 signing bonus and a base salary of $1.26 million. There was an additional $1.69 million in bonuses in Smith’s contract. The first part of that was a $585,000 roster bonus for being on the roster in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season. There was then an additional $50,000 workout bonus and $65,000 per week in active bonuses.
Does Smith Have any Performance Bonuses in His Contract?
On top of that base contract and those bonuses, Smith had a lot of incentives built into his contract. Here is the full list of incentives that Smith had this season:
- Pro Bowl + 20 TD Passes: $500,000
- Playing Time Incentives
(Doubled due to a playoff birth)- 55%: $500,000
- 65%: $500,000
- 75%: $500,000
- 85%: $500,000
- Passing Yard Incentives (Non-cumulative)
- 3,400: $250,000
- 3,700: $500,000
- 4,000: $1 million
Combined, the incentives in Smith’s contract totaled another $3.50 million, and Smith hit all of them in 2022, meaning his final contract value was $7 million for the season. Only $3.50 million counted against the Seahawks’ salary cap in 2022, as none of the incentives were considered likely to be earned. Therefore, the Seahawks will have Smith count $3.5 million against their salary cap next season, whether he is on the team or not.
What Could Smith Earn as a Free Agent?
It will be really intriguing to see what Smith’s contract will look like next year. He is a pending free agent this offseason, so it will be interesting to see how the Seahawks handle this situation. Smith is one of a handful of free agents that Seattle could use the franchise tag on. The projected value of the non-exclusive franchise tag is around $32.5 million.
MORE: 2023 NFL Free Agents By Position
When it comes to market value, Spotrac places Smith’s potential market value at $39.3 million per year on a two-year deal. They compared Smith’s market value to the contracts of Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, and Matt Ryan. Their average salary came out to $35.88 million, and Smith slightly outperformed their average performances in the metrics they identify as key.
Smith’s Net Worth
Projecting the exact net worth of a player is tough to do with little knowledge of their off-field earnings or expenses. Coming into the 2022 season, Smith’s net worth was placed at around $4-6 million. That will likely have increased a little with $7 million in earnings this past season. That places Smith’s estimated net worth at around $10 million.
From an aspect of career earnings, Smith has earned just under $14 million in total. He has received around $8 million in salary and $3 million in signing bonuses, with the remaining coming in roster bonuses and workout bonuses.