During the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, Geno Smith was constantly under pressure.

According to Pro Football Focus, Smith was pressured on 40.5% of his dropbacks, the sixth-highest rate among 33 qualified quarterbacks.

It was one of the many reasons his play fell off.

However, while it is easy to always blame pressure on the offensive line, it’s something the quarterback can own as well. Holding onto the ball for too long could allow the defense to generate pressure and sacks despite competent protection.

That issue was actually quite prevalent for the Jets last season. Many pass-blocking metrics were skewed against the Jets’ OL because all three of their starting QBs tended to hold the ball too long.

In Smith’s case, though, the immense pressure he faced in 2025 was indeed mostly the fault of downright atrocious protection, rather than Smith himself.

It’s the exact reason why Jets fans should be optimistic about a Smith bounce-back.

According to Pro Football Focus, just 11.5% of the pressures Smith took were his own fault, which ranked 35th among 45 quarterbacks. Furthermore, his average time to throw of 2.82 seconds finished 18th out of 29 qualified signal callers (minimum 300 dropbacks), right in the middle of the pack.

This suggests that, with an improved offensive line in New York, Smith is likely to be pressured at a much lower rate. It’s not as if his pressure rate is a number he was responsible for and would be likely to carry to a new team.

Why is this critical?

We recently broke down Smith’s 2025 statistics by clean pocket vs. under pressure, and the results are night and day.

Here’s a brief comparison.

Clean pocket:

  • 312 dropbacks
  • 83.0 PFF Grade
  • 81.9% adjusted completion rate
  • 7.4 yards per attempt
  • +0.24 EPA per dropback
  • 2.8% Big Time Throw rate
  • 2.5% Turnover Worthy Play rate

Under pressure:

  • 212 dropbacks
  • 29.3 PFF Grade
  • 63.8% adjusted completion rate
  • 5.3 yards per attempt
  • -0.71 EPA per dropback
  • 3.2% Big Time Throw rate
  • 6.5% Turnover Worthy Play rate
  • 25.9% sack rate

To be clear, this is not to say that Smith was a great player or that his supporting cast is fully to blame for his down year. Obviously, he needs to take accountability as well, especially for his response under pressure.

However, this is yet another indication that Smith could very well regain his step with the Jets in 2026. With a stronger pass-catching corps and a much more solidified offensive line, Smith will get more opportunities to throw from a clean pocket, where he still looked quite solid last season.

Smith is a very unique quarterback given that he didn’t have a typical “prime.” Most QBs play their best football in their mid-20s. Not Smith.

When he first burst onto the scene with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, he was 31 years old. He continued to play at a Pro Bowl level through age 33.

After being traded to the Raiders ahead of the 2025 season, he had his first poor year as a starter since his time with the Jets.

Sure, it is possible that, as he enters his age-36 season, the QB has just lost his stride.

However, the underlying metrics, including Smith’s clean-pocket efficiency and his EPA on zero-graded throws, suggest Smith has a realistic chance to get back on the right track this season.

Smith has proven he can lead a team to the playoffs in the right situation. If his new supporting cast can give him far better protection than he received in Las Vegas, he is capable of leading the Jets to their most competitive season in over a decade.