Seahawks HC Pete Carroll confirmed Tuesday that Geno Smith is more the leader in the QB competition than the winner, because it's ongoing. "Yeah, I think that they understand that, that it's always on," Carroll told The News Tribune. The team planned to start Drew Lock in the 2nd preseason game before COVID knocked him out for it. He then tossed 3 INTs in the finale. "He's disappointed," Carroll said of Lock. "But I know he knows how we think of him, and how we trust he's got a big future." Carroll has sounded at multiple points as though he wants Lock to emerge and expected it to happen. We'll see where this goes in season, for a team that's tied for the 3rd-lowest Vegas projected win total.

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll announced after Friday night’s preseason finale that QB age Geno Smith will open the regular season as the starter. We’d bet on Drew Lock also getting some starting time at some point this year, and neither looks especially interesting for fantasy football purposes. But Smith should be the guy if you’re grabbing a Seattle QB later in superflex or 2-QB drafts.

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN in Seattle on Wednesday that QB Geno Smith will start the preseason finale and that Drew Lock will play "a lot." Lock was reportedly on track to start the previous exhibition before coming down with COVID. Carroll added that Smith starting this contest doesn't necessarily mean he'll start the regular-season opener. But you'd think the coach would want to see Lock open at least 1 preseason contest with the 1st team before handing him the Week 1 reigns. We'll bet on Smith starting the opener. We also wouldn't bet on either guy starting every game this season. We'll see how these final 2 weeks play out.

Seahawks QB Drew Lock returned to practice Sunday after a bout with COVID. He has a shot to start the team's final preseason contest. Lock had been in line to start the previous exhibition and seemed to be pulling ahead of Geno Smith in the competition before this setback. We'll see where this goes now that he's back.

Seahawks QB Drew Lock tested positive for COVID. He'll be out at least the next 5 days, which means he'll miss Seattle's 2nd preseason game. Lock seemed to be making up ground on QB Geno Smith, getting 1st-team reps in Tuesday's practice. But this is an obvious setback. Smith remains the favorite to start Week 1, although Lock is a good bet to also make starts this season.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Seahawks HC Pete Carroll announced QB Geno Smith as his starter for Saturday's preseason opener at Pittsburgh. Smith has remained atop the depth chart throughout the offseason and training camp. But it also sounds like the competition is far from done. “We’ll see what happens,” Carroll said Thursday, according to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. “There’s a lot of things that can happen when we go out there. We’ve just got to wait and see and we’ll put it together. We’d love to see the guys execute, and they’ve done really well on the practice field. We’d love to see a carry-over. But at the quarterback position, there are opportunities and if there are opportunities how do they seize them? Do they come through and make the play, make the big throw in the red zone or if it’s third down or whatever it is. We just have to wait and see.” We're most interested to see if either QB can look good enough to ease any concerns over the fantasy football outlooks for WRs D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and TE Noah Fant.

Seahawks HC Pete Caroll was back with the team after a bout with COVID, and he had a Friday update on the QB competition: "Geno [Smith] continues to be on top. He's ahead. He's been in the lead for all of the obvious reasons and he's holding on to it and doing a really good job of battling." Carroll did add that there's still a good bit of time left in the evaluation process. "We need reps, we need turns to see more situations to really find any reason to see a difference between the guys," he said, according to The Seattle Times. So we won't consider it decided yet, but it does seem we need to consider Smith the front-runner at this point. His primary advantage is having been with the Seahawks since 2019. For fantasy football purposes, the winner of this battle only matters in superflex, 2-QB and DFS formats.

Seahawks QB Geno Smith opened training camp with the 1st-team offense, right where he was in the spring. “Geno is in the lead. He’s ahead and he ain’t looking back,” HC Pete Carroll said. “He’s going for it. Drew [Lock] is not going to take a back seat. Something is going to happen.” What's "going to happen" probably won't be pretty. We're still expecting both of these guys to make starts this season. It's a situation to avoid in fantasy drafts.

Let's start with HC Pete Carroll's full quote on the Geno Smith-Drew Lock competition after Thursday's practice (per Liz Matthews of Seahawks Wire: “Geno’s still ahead, you can tell that, but it’s not going to be too much for Drew to be caught up. By the time we get through camp he’ll be there. He’s really bright. It makes sense to him. He’s really sharp in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage and all of that. So it’s just time that he needs, and there’s nothing we can do but gain some more of that.” You could easily read that and come away with the headline that Smith is the leader in the race for the starting gig. It sure seems like Carroll is expecting (hoping?) Lock to catch up and potentially overtake him, though. Carroll added that "it's gonna be a real battle." It's not surprising that the incumbent stands ahead at this early stage. We'd still bet Lock between them as the Week 1 starter, though. And we also still wouldn't rule out the possibility of the team adding someone else, such as Baker Mayfield.

The Athletic's Michael-Shawn Dugar projects Geno Smith as Seattle's starting QB in his post-draft depth chart, with Drew Lock as the #2. "But this will be an open competition that may not see a winner until the third and final preseason game," Dugar concedes. The Seahawks will have arguably the worst QB play in the NFL regardless of who's under center this season, barring a trade for someone like Baker Mayfield or Jimmy Garoppolo. Neither Smith nor Lock is worth a pick in early best-ball drafts.

Per Ian Rapoport, the Seahawks have re-signed QB Geno Smith to a 1-year deal worth $7 million. It’s a nice sum for Smith, who Rapoport says has “a chance to push for starter reps and more" this summer. Of course, Seattle added Drew Lock last month, and there’s no question that they could spend an early pick on a rookie passer. The Seahawks hold 8 picks, with 3 in the top-41.

The Broncos placed QB Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) on IR. It's confirmation that QB Drew Lock will start Saturday's finale vs. the Chiefs. Bridgewater is set to hit the free-agent market in March.

Broncos QB Drew Lock is questionable to return to Sunday's game vs. the Chargers with a right shoulder injury. We'll update his status when we know more. QB Brett Rypien is in for Denver.

Update: Lock returned in the 2nd quarter.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) is out for Sunday’s game vs. the Chargers. Drew Lock gets another start but is a shaky QB2 in fantasy lineups.

Broncos HC Vic Fangio confirmed on Wednesday that QB Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) is out for Sunday's game vs. the Raiders. QB Drew Lock will make his 1st start of the season in that one. The 3rd-year QB is the polar opposite of Bridgewater: big-armed, aggressive but inaccurate. We'll see exactly what Lock means for Denver's WRs, but we'd try to avoid Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick in Week 16 fantasy lineups.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater has been released from the hospital and is "doing well," the team announced. Bridgewater is in the concussion protocol for the 2nd time this season and is a long shot to play vs. the Raiders on Sunday. Look for QB Drew Lock to get the start in that one.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater was stretchered off the field after taking a hard hit and landing on his head in the 3rd quarter of Sunday's game vs. the Bengals. We'll update his status when we know more. QB Drew Lock is in for Denver.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater is expected to clear the concussion protocol today and play vs. the Steelers on Sunday, according to insider Mike Klis. We'll see how he's listed on the final injury report later today. Bridgewater's availability would be good news for all of Denver's skill-position players.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) returned to a limited practice on Thursday. It gives him a chance to play vs. the Steelers this weekend, but he still has work to do to clear the protocol. We'll get another update on his status tomorrow.

Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) didn't practice on Wednesday. He still has multiple stages of the concussion protocol to pass through in order to play vs. the Steelers on Sunday. QB Drew Lock seems likely to start that one.