The Facts: Smith won the starting job post-Russ Wilson and then, just as importantly, Smith held it all year long. He secured a three-year, $105 million contract as his reward for his accomplishments in 2022. Smith still is taking his career one season at a time. “It’s still year-by-year,” Smith told reporters on Monday at the first OTA practice of the offseason, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “I’ve got to look at it like that. It’s one year at a time for me. My celebration was I picked up my baby and hugged him up and then I went to the weight room and got back to work. Just got to stay in it. I’m just trying to keep working and focus on ball.”

Diehards Line: As PFT suggests,it’s a smart approach, for multiple reasons. One of which is this: Smith’s contract can be torn up after one year and $28 million. For Smith, he would exit with $28 million for one year of football. Still, the rest of the $105 million would go unpaid. And so he truly does need to keep proving himself. That caused him to say his mindset is no different this year. “If it is different,” Smith said, “I just want to work hard and be better. That’s really it. But in my mind, I keep the same mentality. Drew [Lock] and I and [undrafted free agent Holton Ahlers], we’re competing our butts off and that’s competition every day. We’re trying to see who’s the best quarterback out there on the field every single time.” Smith faced the very real possibility that the Seahawks would have drafted a quarterback, something the team has rarely done under coach Pete Carroll and G.M. John Schneider — and something they might have done with the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft if the Colts hadn’t taken Anthony Richardson one spot before the Seahawks were on the clock. But Richardson wasn't there and Smith is locked into a very good spot for the coming season.