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The Seahawks re-signed Smith to a three-year, $75 million contract in March 2023. That deal gave him the opportunity to make an additional $30 million via contract escalators. Smith hit $6 million of those escalators with his performance last season. That $6 million was added to the $10 million roster bonus Smith is set to earn March 16.

Smith unsuccessfully argued for a new deal last offseason after seeing several quarterbacks cash in with big-money extensions, and he was upset that the Seahawks would not give him one, sources said. It was a nonstarter for the organization given its policy of not renegotiating contracts with more than one season left.

The $25 million average of Smith’s last deal ranked 19th among quarterbacks (it was 20th before the New York Giants released Daniel Jones) and last among full-time starters not on their rookie contract.

The Seahawks were working to extend Smith’s contract over the past week, but when progress was not being made, the Raiders stepped in and showed interest in acquiring him. With the Seahawks struggling to get a new deal done, they opted for a third-round pick instead.

News of Smith’s trade to the Raiders comes two days after Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf requested to be dealt from Seattle. The Seahawks also released another star receiver, Tyler Lockett, earlier this week along with four veteran players. The Raiders are among the teams the Seahawks have talked to about a potential Metcalf trade, according to a source.

The trade, which can’t become official until the new league year begins Wednesday, leaves the Seahawks with Sam Howell and Jaren Hall at quarterback. The team is expected to pursue a veteran quarterback when free agency begins.

After becoming Raiders coach in February, Carroll said he wants to start winning immediately. During the NFL scouting combine, Carroll said the team’s “win now” approach should factor into every decision the team makes in shaping the roster for the 2025 season.

“We are trying to take it as far as we can as soon as we possibly can,” said Carroll, 73. “I’m not looking for a grace period. … I don’t think that way at all.”

Carroll has long had an affinity for Smith, at one point in 2023 calling him “one of my all-time favorite guys.”

Smith is expected to be the seventh Raiders quarterback to start in a game since the team moved on from Derek Carr after the 2022 season.

During the combine, Raiders general manager John Spytek said the team would explore every avenue in adding a quarterback after Las Vegas finished 4-13 under Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder, who started one game. Minshew is expected to be released at the start of the new league year, a source told ESPN.

Carroll and Spytek mentioned O’Connell and Carter Bradley would have a chance to compete for the job. At the same time, Spytek said, “We’ve got to win more games too.”

Though Smith is an upgrade from the Raiders’ previous starters, they have plenty of work to do to surround their new quarterback with offensive talent. Las Vegas has players to work with such as Brock Bowers, who led all tight ends in receiving yards (1,194) during his rookie campaign. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers recorded his first career 1,000-yard season after three straight years with at least 800.

ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.

Johnson, who also did not work out at the combine last week, is the No. 11 player overall in Reid’s latest mock draft and is the No. 9 player overall on ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest Big Board.

Johnson said of his injury at the combine that it “sounds like just a toe, but I had tore some ligaments in my toe, so I couldn’t run, couldn’t plant, couldn’t do anything … for a while, really until mid-January.”

Johnson also added at the combine that, up until he went to Indianapolis, he had not suffered any setbacks in his training. This latest injury happened after the combine ended.

Johnson was named the Defensive MVP of the 2023 College Football Playoff title game when the Wolverines closed out the 2023 season with the national championship. Michigan was 8-5 this past season.

Johnson is the second-rated cornerback on ESPN’s consensus draft board, behind only Colorado’s Travis Hunter, but Johnson said in Indianapolis that he believes “I’m the best corner in the draft.”

The Chargers rewarded Bosa with a five-year, $135 million contract extension in 2020, a deal that at the time was the richest for a defensive player in NFL history. But injuries have plagued him since; he has played in just 28 games over the past three seasons.

Still, Bosa was selected to his fifth Pro Bowl in 2024, albeit as an alternate, and his 14 games played were his most since 2021. When healthy, he has remained an effective pass rusher; in the Chargers’ playoff loss to the Houston Texans in January, he had a team-high six pressures and one sack.

Bosa made it clear throughout the season that he wanted to be a Charger for life, and he took a pay cut last offseason to stay with the team. Still, he was projected to have a $36.4 million cap hit in 2025, which always seemed untenable for the Chargers, who with his release now have $90.6 million in cap space.

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