Seahawks QB Geno Smith questionable for Week 14 game at 49ers

RENTON, Wash. – If it’s San Francisco week, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith must be questionable with an injury.

Just as he was before the first meeting between the two on Thanksgiving night, Smith is listed as questionable for Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. rematch at Levi’s Stadium with a groin injury.

Smith was also questionable before the first game on Nov. 23. Only then, it was with a bruised elbow/triceps that Smith played through to start and take every snap of an eventual 31-13 loss.

Now, Smith is dealing with a tweaked groin suffered in practice on Thursday. Smith was held out of practice on Friday.

“He just tweaked his groin a little bit yesterday,” coach Pete Carroll said after practice. “Just kind of stumbled over somebody.”

So will Smith again shake off the questionable label to play?

Carroll played it vaguely, saying, “We’ll see. We rested him today.”

Asked a follow up on whether the team will need to see how Smith handles pregame warmups, Carroll said, “Yeah. We’re going to wait and see.”

As Smith playing the first game despite being questionable shows, players with that designation often play. Officially, it means a player has a 50-50 shot to play as opposed to doubtful, which is 75-25 against playing, or out.

Smith was not on the field when the team began its practice Friday but was on the field at the end, though not in a helmet and appeared to only be watching. He was not made available to media afterward.

If Smith can’t play, backup Drew Lock would get his first start as a Seahawk.

The 27-year-old Lock was acquired from Seattle in March 2022 from Denver as part of the Russell Wilson trade.

Lock has played in only two regular-season games since coming to Seattle, both this season, and each in relief roles this season when Smith was injured during games, with 25 snaps overall.

The Seahawks added depth behind Lock and Smith on Friday, bringing back veteran Sean Mannion to the practice squad. Mannion took part in practice.

But Lock presumably got most, if not all, of the reps with the team hurriedly preparing him to start if needed. Practice is not open to the media.

Carroll said he is confident Lock can get the job done if Smith can’t play.

“He’s been waiting for this opportunity and looking forward to it and preparing for it,” Carroll said. “If this comes to pass, then he is as ready as he can get. Excited about him getting a chance to play. I know for him he’s been really disciplined about the way he focuses every week to make himself know and believe that he is going to be playing as that guy has to do. So, if it changes this week, we’ll see the benefits of all of his hard work to focus like you need to focus to maintain what it takes to play this game.”

Lock saw his first regular-season action with Seattle on Oct. 2 against the New York Giants when he had to take over for much of the second quarter when Smith left with knee and ankle injuries, going 2 for 6 for 63 yards, including a 51-yard pass to Noah Fant on a 75-yard TD drive.

He played much of the fourth quarter of Seattle’s 17-16 loss to the Rams on Nov. 19 when Smith suffered a bruised triceps, completing 2 of 6 passes for 3 yards with an interception.

That makes him 4 for 12 overall for 66 yards, no touchdowns, an interception and a passer rating of 18.1.

The 31-year-old Mannion, who played at Oregon State and was a third-round pick of the Rams in 2015, has been with Seattle for much of the past two seasons.

He was on Seattle’s practice squad all of last regular season and also spent time in camp with the Seahawks in 2021, which reunited him with Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Mannion played with the Rams for two years when Waldron was an assistant there.

Mannion was released off Minnesota’s practice squad on Nov. 28.

“Amazing, amazing recall that he can jump back in,” Carroll said. “He’s been with another team here, just a couple of weeks ago with Minnesota. He’s a very special football player that he has so much command. That really is a benefit for us.”

Seattle had to sign Mannion to burnish the depth at quarterback after losing Brett Rypien off the practice squad earlier this week when Rypien signed to the 53-man roster of the Jets. Rypien signed to Seattle’s practice squad on Nov. 10 and was active for the first game against the 49ers but not needed when Smith was able to play.

Smith has been dealing with a bruised triceps injury suffered Nov. 19 against the Rams but had not been on the injury report last week or this week with that injury.

He held his regular weekly news conference with media on Thursday after the team’s walk-through but before practice, and before suffering the groin injury.

He said then that he was “getting better” with his triceps injury though still not 100%.

Smith has started all 30 games the Seahawks have played the past two seasons, including a wild-card playoff loss last January against the 49ers.

He is coming off one of his best games of the season, throwing for a season-high three touchdowns and 334 yards in a 41-35 loss at Dallas a week ago Thursday and spoke confidently this week of hoping the Seahawks can carry over that performance Sunday against the 49ers.

“I think just overall, if you look at the way we played, just the effort we played with, I thought the intent that we broke the huddle with. I thought just the way that the receivers ran and caught the ball, the protection – anytime you’re scoring a lot of points, that’s something that you want to build on,” Smith said. “For us, we know that each game is going to be different, every game is a different game. You get a new set of downs, and we have to focus on executing one play at a time. We can build on it, but we can’t allow that to let us get complacent. We have to go out there and we have to earn it every single time.”

But whether Smith will be on the field Sunday to help the Seahawks do that could be in question right up until kickoff.