4 options to replace Ryan Tannehill as Titans quarterback in 2023

Tennessee Titans replacement for Ryan Tannehill No. 2: Geno Smith

The Seahawks might not let Geno Smith walk away. At the same time, Seattle might not want to pay him $30-35 million a season, especially as he finished with 12 turnovers of some kind in his final nine games.

Smith’s quarterback rating of 100.9 isn’t as high as Tannehill’s under Arthur Smith, but it is higher than Tannehill’s rating was under Todd Downing.

Before 2022 Smith only had 35 career touchdown passes over 8 years, but this year he had by far the best season of his career with 30 touchdowns. That number would be second-best in Tannehill’s career.

While Smith has been mostly a backup quarterback in his career, he is still two years younger than Tannehill. Recent history actually could make someone ask where Smith is a better quarterback than Tannehill.

While the general view is that Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll likes to run a lot, the numbers don’t back that up. Seattle threw the ball on 59.35 percent of offensive plays in 2022, the 13th-highest in the NFL. In 2021, Seattle had the 20th-highest percentage, so those numbers might not carry over if he joined the Tennessee Titans since the Tennessee Titans are generally at the bottom of the league in pass percentage (thank you, Derrick Henry!).

I bring this point up to show that Seattle had enough trust in Geno Smith in his first full season in Seattle as the starting quarterback to have the offense throw even more than when they had Russell Wilson. And Smith came through as the Seahawks made the playoffs. Smith is a free agent and having him come to Nashville would make the Titans a better team next year.