Geno Smith got the outcome he was hoping for out of the police investigation, and now he can turn his full focus back to football.
Law enforcement announced this week that no criminal charges will be filed against the Raiders quarterback in the alleged assault case that had been hanging over him since earlier this summer. The investigation is officially closed.
The incident dates back to a bar altercation earlier this year, when an accuser claimed Smith was involved in a physical confrontation. Smith and his representatives denied wrongdoing from the start. After weeks of investigation, interviews and reviewing available footage, police determined there was not enough evidence to move forward.
That is a significant relief for the Raiders franchise and for Smith personally. The last thing Las Vegas needed heading into training camp was a starting quarterback distracted by a legal matter, and the last thing Smith needed at 35 years old was another cloud following his name around.
Geno’s story has been one of the great redemption arcs of the last decade of NFL football. He was drafted as a starter for the Jets, flamed out, spent years as a backup, and then reinvented himself in Seattle as one of the more consistent starting quarterbacks in the league. Landing in Las Vegas last year was supposed to be the next chapter, not another controversy.
The Raiders had to be preparing for the worst-case scenario internally. Depth charts get rewritten fast when a starter faces criminal exposure. Aidan O’Connell was quietly getting first-team reps in some early workouts, according to reports out of the facility. That will presumably change now that Geno is cleared.
What happens next is up to Geno. He has a full training camp to get right, a coaching staff that believes in him and a young Raiders team that badly needs stable quarterback play. The AFC West is a meat grinder. Patrick Mahomes will be there again. Justin Herbert has healthy weapons. Bo Nix is entering his third year in Denver looking like a real problem.
Geno is not going to outscore Mahomes. He probably will not outscore Herbert. What he can do is protect the football, take what defenses give him and let the run game and the defense keep the Raiders in games. That is the version of Geno that had him in the MVP conversation at one point in Seattle, and that is the version Las Vegas needs.
The Raiders will still have to address the situation publicly. Some kind of team statement is coming, and Geno himself will presumably speak on it when training camp opens. Say the right things, thank the process, focus on football. Simple stuff.
The bigger picture is that Geno gets to control his own story now. No looming court date. No hovering threat of a suspension for personal conduct. Just football, which is all he wanted in the first place.
Raiders fans should be relieved. The last thing this franchise needed was another distraction. Geno cleared the biggest one, and now the season can actually start on its own terms.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
