The New York Jets have pulled off a massive trade to bring back a former quarterback, Geno Smith. The 35-year-old had a disappointing 2025 season in Sin City and was expected to be released by the franchise. With the Las Vegas Raiders trading him, Smith reflected on his return to the Meadowlands.

“The Raiders are trading QB Geno Smith and a seventh-rounder to the Jets for a sixth-round pick tomorrow—and safe to say Geno’s pleased with the result,” Albert Breer reported via X. “He’ll return to the franchise that drafted him nearly a decade after leaving. His reaction, via text: ‘Complete full circle moment. Looking forward to connecting with all my teammates and coaches and building a new relationship with the fans’.”

With this decision, the Jets are retooling their quarterback room as the franchise struggled with Justin Fields starting for the majority of the season. In his nine games, he only produced 1,259 yards, seven touchdowns, and one interception.

As reports reveal, the New York front office is expected to part ways with Fields, and hence, Smith will be back as the Jets’ starting quarterback.

Now a veteran, the shot-caller had begun his career with the Jets, surpassing 3,000 passing yards in his rookie season in 2013. Then in 2015, Smith was expected to be the team’s starter despite his poor performance, but he sustained a broken jaw after a teammate punched him, causing him to miss multiple weeks.

After this incident, he started thrice due to injuries and ineffectiveness, leading to his exit from the team. Eventually, he left the franchise in 2016 to revive his career.

Smith then played for the New York Giants in 2017 and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018 as a backup before experiencing a career turnaround with the Seattle Seahawks.

As the starter in Seattle, the 35-year-old completed 68.5% of his passes at 7.4 yards per attempt, with 76 touchdowns and 36 interceptions in 54 games and 52 starts.

Then, before the 2025 season, Smith moved to the Raiders and signed a massive two-year, $75M extension in 2025. However, failed to deliver on this price tag, finishing as the 27th in Total QBR (34.1), while recording 3,025 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and a league-high 17 interceptions.

After this disappointing finish, the Raiders were handed the first overall pick. With the top selection in the 2026 draft, the Las Vegas Raiders are expected to draft quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who is coming off a historic 2025 season for the Indiana Hoosiers.

Hence, when the Raiders’ front office interviewed the 22-year-old at the recent NFL Combine, Mendoza expressed excitement about playing in the Black and Silver for a specific reason.

Mendoza expresses excitement about working with Raiders co-owner Tom Brady

After winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the Hoosiers to their first National Championship with a 16-0 record, Fernando Mendoza has emerged as the consensus first overall pick.

In 16 games, the 22-year-old passed for over 3,500 yards and 41 touchdowns with only six interceptions. Before adding six rushing touchdowns, totaling 36 points for the season.

Hence, after the Raiders interviewed him as their first overall pick, Mendoza expressed excitement about working with the franchise’s minority owner, Tom Brady.

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Speaking about the interview, the Hoosiers QB1 highlighted Brady’s greatness before delving into how working with the former Patriots signal caller will be an incredible learning opportunity.

“To be able to have the opportunity to be mentored by him, it would mean so much,” Mendoza said, as per ESPN. “And especially to learn, and I’m all about learning. So from day one, I got to learn a lot. It’s going to be a long journey. And to potentially have a mentor like that, it’d be pretty impressive and pretty meaningful.”

With the Raiders moving on from Geno Smith after just one season, the Las Vegas fans will hope that drafting Fernando Mendoza kick-starts their rebuild in the 2026 season.