Where does Seattle Seahawks' Geno Smith rank in the QB hierarchy?

Seattle Seahawks signalman Geno Smith has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league through the first three weeks of the season.

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Smith ranks third in the NFL in both completion percentage (74.8%) and passing yards per game (262.3). He has a league-best completion percentage of 83.8%, adjusted by Pro Football Focus, which takes into account the six passes dropped by his receivers. He is also the fifth-ranked quarterback in PFF's rating and eighth in ESPN's QBR metric.

Smith threw three interceptions, but context is important. Two of his interceptions came largely from pass rush pressure and the other came at the line of scrimmage. As a result, PFF only credited him with one turnover-worthy play. His turnover effective play rate of 0.8% is the third lowest of all quarterbacks with at least 75 dropbacks.

And he did all of this despite often being under pressure from pass protection issues upfront. Seattle ranks 29th in PFF pass blocking rating and Smith was pressured 43 times, tied for the seventh-most of any quarterback in the league.

Where does the 33-year-old Smith, with his laser-like precision, rank in the NFL's quarterback hierarchy so far this season? Steven Ruiz, who compiles weekly detailed quarterback rankings for The Ringer, moved Smith up to No. 7 this week.

“I think what I’m seeing is just a tightening of his process,” Ruiz said Thursday during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. “It's not that he's changed dramatically in the three seasons he's played in Seattle, but he's paring down his game.

“What we’ve seen from him this year is just incredible. He just doesn’t make many mistakes.”

In his QB rankings, Ruiz has Smith behind Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, Buffalo's Josh Allen, Baltimore's Lamar Jackson, the Rams' Matthew Stafford, the Chargers' Justin Herbert and Dallas' Dak Prescott. He has Smith ahead of Cincinnati's Joe Burrow, Houston's CJ Stroud and Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence to round out his top 10.

Co-host Stacy Rost asked if Ruiz had considered including Smith in his top five.

“I kind of dipped my toes in that water,” Ruiz said. “I’m not ready to declare him a top-five quarterback. To me, he's the hardest quarterback to place, especially in the top 10, because there are these guys that we automatically place in that top tier, like a Joe Burrow.

“But I think you could argue that Geno Smith was better than Joe Burrow not just this year but last year. I think he was definitely better than guys like Trevor Lawrence. And then I think you could start to argue that he was better than Dak Prescott last year, I would say.”

Ruiz said Smith is benefiting from new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's scheme, which he said is a perfect fit.

“I think it just gives him the platform to showcase his strengths,” Ruiz said. “He’s a pure dropback passer. He's a guy that you can just give the ball to and put him in an iso situation. To use a basketball analogy: He'll get you a bucket. And I think Ryan Grubb really leans on that.

“I would like them to add some easier buttons to the offense for Geno to alleviate some of the pass protection issues. But right now we’re seeing the best of Geno.”

Listen to the full conversation with Steven Ruiz at this link or in the audio player at the top 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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