{"id":637326,"date":"2026-04-29T00:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637326\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T00:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:44:19","slug":"russell-wilson-jets-visit-geno-smith-pushes-for-veteran-qb-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637326\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Wilson Jets visit: Geno Smith pushes for veteran QB reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jets<\/a>‘ search for a veteran backup quarterback might lead to a reunion at the game’s most important position. New York hosted Russell Wilson<\/a> on Monday, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini<\/a>, and while a deal isn’t considered imminent, Wilson is in the running to join the quarterback room.<\/p>\n

The Jets already have Geno Smith<\/a> entrenched as their starter this season, and while it may seem on the surface that bringing in a 10-time Pro Bowler could rankle Smith, the opposite appears true. In fact, Smith “advocated for Wilson when team officials solicited his input on potential backups,” according to Cimini.<\/p>\n

Smith and Wilson were teammates on the Seahawks<\/a>\u00a0from 2019-21, with Wilson as the starter in all three seasons. But after Wilson was traded to the Broncos<\/a>, Smith took over. Smith’s Seahawks beat Wilson’s Broncos in the 2022 season opener, with Smith famously saying, “They wrote me off. I ain’t write back though” after his first Week 1 win since 2014.<\/p>\n

Smith’s career has been a bit of a roller coaster since then. He hit some highs — including two Pro Bowl selections — during three seasons as Seattle’s full-time starter before being traded to the Raiders<\/a> last year and reuniting with Pete Carroll. Smith endured a tough year in Las Vegas, throwing a league-high 17 interceptions and taking a league-high 55 sacks. The Jets acquired Smith in March via a late-round pick swap<\/a>. Smith originally entered the NFL<\/a> as a Jets second-round pick in 2013.<\/p>\n

Wilson has followed an even rockier path. He struggled mightily in his first season in Denver during a disastrous campaign under first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett. He also struggled in 2023 under Sean Payton, was released while incurring a then-record dead cap hit and landed with the Steelers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wilson played decently in Pittsburgh, but the Steelers lost their final five games, including a wild card blowout to the Ravens<\/a>, and moved on. He started the first three games of the 2025 season with the Giants<\/a>, went 0-3 and was benched.<\/p>\n

The Jets currently have Smith, 2026 fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik<\/a>, second-year player Brady Cook<\/a> and Bailey Zappe<\/a> — who last played in 2024 — in their quarterback room. But they’ve been open about wanting a veteran backup for Smith, and Wilson could fit the bill by reversing roles from the last time the two shared a team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jets‘ search for a veteran backup quarterback might lead to a reunion at the game’s most important…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,71931,197975,17079,1279,5347,308496,308497,1235,593,140918,308499,1275,308495,308498,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-637326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bailey-zappe","11":"tag-brady-cook","12":"tag-cade-klubnik","13":"tag-geno-smith","14":"tag-jets","15":"tag-jets-backup-quarterback","16":"tag-jets-quarterback","17":"tag-new-york-jets","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-free-agency","20":"tag-qb-depth","21":"tag-russell-wilson","22":"tag-russell-wilson-jets-visit","23":"tag-russell-wilson-news","24":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}