Todd Bowles has a unique perspective on second and third acts in the NFL.
In his four seasons leading the Jets, Bowles coached a young QB in Geno Smith (2015-16) and LB Demario Davis (2017). Bowles went on to Tampa Bay, taking over there as HC in 2022, just as Smith was rewriting his own script in Seattle. Smith is back in green and white, Davis in back for a third go-round.
"You've seen Sam [Darnold] come out and come back and succeed elsewhere," Bowles said on Monday at the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. "You've seen Baker [Mayfield] come back and succeed elsewhere. You've seen quite a few guys – [Daniel] Jones made a resurgence. So Geno's played enough football, maybe he's at the right place at the right time."
Smith, a second-round pick (No. 39 overall) of the Jets in 2013, played in 30 games his first two season with the Green & White and completed 57.5 passes for 5,571 yards with 25 TDs and 34 INTs. An injury in 2015 cost Smith his season and he served as a backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2016 before sustaining a torn ACL in a Week 7 win over the Ravens.
Smith, 35, has returned to the Jets as the team's QB1, the team that selected him out of West Virginia in the second round (No. 39 overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft. After four seasons with the Green & White, Smith played in exactly 12 games over the next four seasons (with the Giants, the Chargers and the Seahawks) before he resurrected his career with Seattle in 2022, taking the Seahawks to the playoffs.
"The funny thing is, I haven't gone against him too many times, maybe once, maybe twice," Bowles said. "I haven't really seen him quite a bit. But you know, I know when he was in Seattle, he threw for a bunch of yards [12,961 yards over four seasons as the starter], and he had a good resurgence there. But again, I didn't see him as much as I normally see them [other QBs].
"If you're in this league long enough, you're going to learn how to become professional and how to handle things and deal with adversity. So the fact that he's still in the league, I'm sure he's done that."
While Bowles may not have seen or played much against a Smith-led team over the years, the same cannot be said about his encounters with Davis -- a guy Bowles and his Buccaneers have faced two times in each of the past four seasons Bowles has coached Tampa Bay. They were together with the Jets in 2017 before Davis, 37, spent the past 8 seasons in New Orleans.
"No matter how many times we played the Saints, after the game he was always the first one to run up to me and give me a hug, so that from a respect factor for each other," Bowles said. "He still runs around and plays the game at a very high level. Outstanding leadership. Takes care of his body and understands how to play the game, and I think they got a great leader."
