Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith is setting the record straight as to why he's not encouraged by the amount of minority coaches leading NFL football teams. There are now a record 9 NFL minority head coaches, after the Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales for the 2024 season.

“I’m not moved or encouraged by a few more minorities having jobs that they are more than qualified for,” Smith said on his social media. “True equality means that the conversation is no longer being had, based on the fact that we are all being given equal opportunity (which we are not).”

The Seahawks' Smith made those comments on social media after he'd been asked by a reporter earlier if he was encouraged about the current number of NFL coaches who are from minority ethnic groups.

“I don’t find it encouraging at all. It’s 2024. Why are we still talking about minorities?” Smith said at the time, per ESPN. Smith then went to social media to clarify these comments and give further context to what he was speaking about.

Smith is a former NFL Comeback Player of the Year who led the Seahawks to a 9-8 record in 2023. He threw for 3,624 yards in the 2023 season, with 20 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Smith has thrown for nearly 8,000 yards in the last two seasons leading the Seahawks.

Smith also played for the New York Jets, New York Giants, and L.A. Chargers in his more than a decade in the National Football League. Smith played college football at West Virginia, where he led the Mountaineers to an Orange Bowl victory in the 2011 season.