RENTON, Wash. — There is no position battle more important for the Seahawks than the one at quarterback between Geno Smith, the 10-year veteran who has experience in the system, and Drew Lock, the 25-year-old gunslinger who was part of the blockbuster trade that sent Russell Wilson to Denver.

All offseason, the media has asked the Seahawks coaches what it’ll take to win the job. Wednesday was the first opportunity for us to hear from the two competitors.

“Be myself,” Smith said after the second day of mandatory minicamp. “Be consistent. Be dynamic. Throw touchdowns. Make great plays. All the good stuff, man. Be the quarterback, be the leader, be the guy that guys look to.”

“Decision. Timing. Accuracy. That’s the quarterback room standard,” Lock said. “Did I make the right decision, was that where the ball was supposed to go? Yes. Was I on time? Was it within my drop? Was I accurate? The biggest thing for me right now is changing footwork from what I did last year to this year, working on timing and my feet. The more and more I get better with the timing of my feet, the more accurate the ball comes (out).

“The decision-making is there right now. It’s just about timing my feet up with these new route concepts and delivering an accurate football. If I feel like I can check all three of those parts at the end of these passes, I’m doing my job.”

Smith, 31, has one year of experience with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and three total years of experience with the Seahawks. He started three games in place of an injured Wilson last season, going 1-2, with a pair of narrow losses to the Saints and Steelers and a blowout win over the Jaguars.

Lock, on the other hand, said learning the system was overwhelming initially because of the amount of information (not necessarily the details of the playbook). But he’s since become “very comfortable” with everything Waldron and passing game coordinator Dave Canales have been teaching.

“There’s a lot that’s thrown on your plate, but over time you learn something new about each play every day you’re out here at practice,” Lock said. “It all starts tying together. I feel really, really good about this offense. I feel like I could go out and play a game tomorrow. That’s a testament to the coaches and the guys around me, teaching me up on the intricacies of plays they’ve picked up on over time.”

Meanwhile, Smith said his familiarity with the system has “helped out a lot.” And it’s why he has taken the first-team reps in these spring practices. There’s a tangible benefit to those first-team reps, Smith said. He saw it firsthand last season. Prior to Weeks 6-8 last year, Smith had zero regular-season practice reps with the first-team offense. After a couple weeks of building chemistry, he found a rhythm with his teammates.

“When you get reps with guys, you’re learning their speed, how to communicate with them in the huddle, different signals, things that go beyond the football field,” Smith said. “It’s like a synergy that you have when you continue to rep with those guys. You see in that Jacksonville game a lot of tight throws were made to Tyler Lockett. Me and Tyler did a lot better than we had done previously. That was due to the reps we had gotten in practice.”

.@TDLockett12 will finish with ____ receptions this season 🤔 pic.twitter.com/968eVFPETc

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) June 8, 2022

Lock doesn’t have that advantage, outside of three years with tight end Noah Fant. But through a handful of offseason practices, there’s an obvious rapport between Lock and a few of his receivers. One of the most notable has been Cody Thompson, someone I highlighted Tuesday as an early offseason standout. Thompson was among a handful of pass catchers Lock linked up with in Dallas to get some early reps in a couple weeks before reporting to organized team activities in April (Lock declined to name the other participants). Even though Thompson may be a long shot to make the roster, any edge Lock can find may help with the job.

“(Thompson) plays the ball really well,” Lock said. “Has a knack for the ball when it’s in the air. Definitive routes, you know when he’s shutting it down. Does a really good job getting in and out of cuts. He deserves a little more respect than he might get.”

Both Smith and Lock have been in quarterback competitions before. Smith as a rookie with the Jets in 2013 had to fight with Mark Sanchez, while Lock most recently lost out to veteran Teddy Bridgewater last year in Denver (Smith beat out Paxton Lynch to be Wilson’s backup in 2019). Smith said his battle with Lock is much different because he’s now a seasoned vet. Lock didn’t compare the two battles, instead revealing what he learned last season while competing with Bridgewater.

“I tried to compare the whole time,” Lock said. “Did Teddy beat me that day? Or did I win that day? If you start thinking like that it’s not good for you. It’s not good for your process of becoming a better quarterback. It’s not about who won that day, it’s about did I get better today to make the guys around me better? Because if I’m playing at my best, the other 10 dudes around me are going to be playing really good football, too.”

The Seattle coaches have called these spring practices everything from “fake football” to the “underwear Olympics,” so there is very little to be determined between Smith and Lock this time of year. But that doesn’t mean the seven-on-seven sessions to end each practice have been totally irrelevant. Wednesday’s run was a good example.

The defense jumped on the offense right out of the gate. Cornerback Sidney Jones broke up Smith’s first pass, intended for Lockett. Then he blanketed Lockett on a deep ball the next snap (the ball was slightly overthrown). Marquise Goodwin dropped a would-be touchdown on the next play. Lock tried to go deep on his first pass, but rookie Tariq Woolen outran the receiver on what was ultimately an overthrown, incomplete pass. Neither quarterback got into much of a rhythm.

Then came the errant throws. Smith several plays later fired a laser over the middle in the direction of receiver Aaron Fuller that practically hit safety Josh Jones in the stomach. Fortunately for Smith, Jones dropped the interception. Four plays into Lock’s next turn at the helm, he put too much air on an out-breaking route intended for receiver Penny Hart and nickel Ugo Amadi read it like a book for what would have been a pick-six in a real game. While both quarterbacks made turnover-worthy mistakes, Lock’s resulted in an actual turnover, one that would have likely put six points on the board for the opponent.

Lock said he knows Amadi from training together ahead of the 2019 draft. They watched film together this week and went over the exact situation that played out in practice.

“I can credit that pick today to us watching film together,” Lock said with a laugh. “We were talking about that. ‘If you’re going to play outside leverage on that, better be careful if you flip your hips, because if you flip your hips, we’re going to throw it to the sideline.’”

“I told him after (practice) today, ‘Dude, no more watching film. We’re done with that. Keep that. That is for the birds and we’re not doing that anymore,’” Lock said.

Smith didn’t throw any interceptions in his three starts last season, though he does have more career interceptions (37) than touchdown passes (34). Lock has 25 passing touchdowns against 20 career interceptions. He led the league with 15 picks in 2020. The guy with the fewer turnovers this summer may win the gig. Lock was asked Wednesday about the key to protecting the ball.

“Don’t throw picks,” he said. “Checking it down when it’s not there. Not forcing anything. There’s that aspect where you want to push the ball down the field and you want to make the big plays, but a major part of playing really, really good NFL quarterback is knowing that the other side of the ball is pretty good, too. They’re getting paid a lot of money to stop you and when they do, check it down.”

Both Smith and Lock have a long way to go before they earn the job. Smith has the lead, for obvious reasons: He’s seasoned, knows the system, knows the coaching staff and has protected the ball better when serving as a starter. But Lock has plenty of time to catch him. There are similarities between Seattle’s offense and the one Denver ran in 2019, Lock’s rookie year. Plus, Lock has a strong arm and can move in the pocket, as he demonstrated on the final throw of the day Wednesday.

Lock left the pocket in a scramble situation and uncorked a bomb to tight end Tyler Mabry, who was blanketed in the back of the end zone by linebacker Tanner Muse with a safety over the top. Lock fit the long ball in between both defenders and the tight end made a nice diving catch. More throws like that will close the gap between the two passers.

Whether the Seahawks are led by Lock or Smith, the goal remains the same, according to Seattle’s players and coaches: win a championship. While that goal may seem farfetched to those outside the building, Smith said Wednesday he feels the team is talented enough to be a contender.

“I know that you guys are watching us out here practicing and we are battling, going back and forth with the defense,” Smith said. “Those guys are doing great, they are going to be extremely great. I can’t wait to see those guys in live action, but I do believe that we have a championship-caliber team. It’s on us to make sure that we put that effort forward, and when it’s that time to execute, we do what we have to do, so these aren’t just words, that we can put those things into action.”

(Top photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)