Since taking over as starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, Geno Smith has experienced a career resurgence.

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Smith has been a Pro Bowler each of the last two years and has put in above-average performances during that span, highlighted by some stretches of great play. However, there are still differing opinions about where the 34-year-old veteran stands in the NFL quarterback hierarchy.

This is particularly the case this year. Smith has thrown for a league-high 274.6 yards per game and ranks seventh with a 68.8% completion rate. But he's also thrown just eight touchdown passes in eight games and seven interceptions, tied for the sixth-most in the league. He ranks 14th in ESPN's QBR metric, which is just slightly above average.

FTN Fantasy's Aaron Schatz, who writes for ESPN.com and founded the website Football Outsiders, was asked for his opinion on Smith during an appearance Wednesday on Seattle Sports' Bump and Stacy.

Schatz responded with an interesting QB comparison for Smith: 36-year-old veteran and four-time Pro Bowler Kirk Cousins, who is playing his first season with Atlanta after spending the last 12 seasons with Washington and Minnesota.

“I think Geno is good, but he’s not great and he’ll never be great,” Schatz said. “But he’s good. I mean, he's an above-average quarterback. It's interesting, I think with Geno you get a Kirk Cousins ​​level of play but in a completely different way. He has more athletic talent and therefore his top performances are higher, but his mistakes are more frequent. But in the end you have a level of play that corresponds to the eleventh best quarterback in the league.”

Schatz's comparison over the last three seasons is pretty accurate.

Since the start of 2022, Smith has a 67.7% completion rate, 252.6 passing yards per game, 58 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions. Cousins, meanwhile, has a 67.3% completion rate, 272.2 passes per game, 61 TD passes and 26 interceptions.

The only significant difference is Smith's ability to use his legs. Smith has posted 698 rushing yards over the last three seasons, while Cousins ​​has just 130. That's likely why Smith has a QBR of 62.8 over that span, compared to Cousins' 52.3.

Still, Smith and Cousins ​​are pretty similar considering their QBR rankings since becoming full-time starters. Since becoming Seattle's starter in 2022, Smith has ranked seventh, 14th and 14th in QBR – an average ranking of 11.7. And in the 10 seasons since Cousins ​​won the starting job in Washington in 2015, he has an average QBR rating of 12.9.

Can a quarterback of this caliber win a Super Bowl?

“If you have a strong defense and good receivers, you can definitely win with that,” Schatz said. “But I don’t think Geno is necessarily the type to carry you to the promised land alone.”

Listen to ESPN.com writer Aaron Schatz at this link or in the audio player at the center of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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