Quarterback Geno Smith is ready to return to the New York Jets. He hopes it is a lot much less painful than the final time he performed for the staff.
On Tuesday, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to commerce Smith and a 2026 sixth-rounder to the Jets for a 2026 seventh-rounder, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal turns into official when the brand new league 12 months begins on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
“Full full circle second,” Smith texted Sports activities Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer after the information broke. “Wanting ahead to connecting with all my teammates and coaches and constructing a brand new relationship with the followers.”
It is shocking Smith — whom New York took with choose No. 39 within the 2013 NFL Draft — appears enthusiastic about returning to the Jets locker room, contemplating he as soon as broke his jaw there.
Revisiting Geno Smith’s Jets combat
Former Jets head coach Todd Bowles (now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) known as an impromptu information convention on Aug. 11, 2015, to disclose that Smith had suffered the damage in a combat with defensive lineman IK Enemkpali.
“You are going to need a tape recorder for this,” the coach mentioned, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
The combat stemmed from a monetary matter. Months earlier, Enemkpali had invited Smith to his youth soccer camp in Pflugerville, Texas, and paid $1,200 for his flight. The QB by no means confirmed. They then agreed to separate the associated fee, however Smith nonetheless hadn’t reimbursed him on the time of the combat.
“We get to coaching camp and IK is asking him about it,” former Jets linebacker Trevor Reilly informed Cimini for a narrative revealed in August 2020. “That day, he asks him. I used to be sitting proper there; my locker was subsequent to Geno. Geno simply form of says, ‘Simply chill, man, overlook about it. What are you going to do if I do not pay you?'”
Smith should not have requested that. Enemkpali clocked him with an higher minimize/cross to the jaw. The QB then tackled the LB, and so they tussled earlier than teammates separated them.
“Truthfully, I do not even give it some thought. I do not wish to. It was dangerous information throughout. Lives had been altered,” former Jets offensive deal with Ben Ijalana informed Cimini.
Bowles instantly minimize Enemkpali, who the Buffalo Payments then signed. He performed 11 video games in 2015 however suffered a career-ending knee damage the next season. In 2017, his comeback try with the Raiders failed. At his marriage ceremony, he informed Reilly he nonetheless regrets the combat.
The punch derailed Smith’s profession as properly. He spent the 2015 season on the bench, regardless that he was imagined to miss simply six weeks. With Ryan Fitzpatrick as their beginning QB, the Jets went 10-6 and virtually made the playoffs.
Smith began one sport for the Jets in 2016 earlier than tearing his ACL. After New York launched him in 2017, he was a backup for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers earlier than reviving his profession with the Seattle Seahawks, making two Professional Bowls in three seasons because the staff’s starter (2022-24).
Per Cimini, Smith took accountability for the combat in a 2016 interview with ESPN, saying it “fueled him to be a greater man.” Nevertheless, he did not communicate to the beat author in 2020, and after the story was revealed, he known as it a “shame” on X.
Smith’s second tenure with the Jets might as soon as once more depart him blindsided… figuratively talking. The QB tossed a league-leading 17 interceptions in 2025. The Jets, in the meantime, went 3-14. As of Tuesday, FanDuel Sportsbook offers them +2000 odds to win the AFC East.
