Alex Smith’s comeback journey goes to next level
Return opens up competition for starting QB for Washington,
He was doused with champagne on his doorstep by his children and wife, then presented with a cake featuring a mini Washington Football Team helmet and a blondhaired figurine with chopsticks for crutches.
Footage of the celebration was posted by his wife, Elizabeth, on social media without acknowledging the reason for the momentous occasion. Perhaps one wasn’t needed.
Alex Smith, whose life and football career was threatened by a compound leg fracture he suffered during a game in November 2018, was cleared for football activity and activated off the physically unable to perform list Sunday. The team, fittingly, announced the move on social media with a comic book sketch of his 20-month recovery titled “The Comeback.”
Before the start of training camp, Smith was cleared by his surgical team to return to football. But he didn’t pass his physical with the team because of medical staff ’s uncertainty about how his leg would respond to an increase in football movements.
“For him, it’s really just a matter of, can he do the movements he needs to do?” coach Ron Rivera said in early August. “Can he protect himself when he’s on the field more so than anything else? Remember, he’s going to have to hand the ball off, he’s going to have to drop back into the pocket and throw the ball, he’s going to have to escape and we have to make sure he can do those things and protect himself as he plays.”
According to multiple people familiar with his progress, Smith, 36, took significant strides in practice this past week, though he’s been limited by his designation. On PUP, he’s been able to do most anything except practise and participate in walk-throughs.
But he returns just as practice is kicking into high gear.
Because the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the league to operate remotely for the entire off- season, training camp this year has been altered to include a lengthy ramp- up period to let players ease their way back into team workouts. Washington began the second phase of its training camp, with 90- minute workouts and helmets — on Aug. 13. Starting Tuesday, the team can begin to hold padded practices, of which they’re allowed a maximum of 14.
On the active PUP list, Smith already counted toward the team’s camp roster limit of 80 players, so a corresponding move to clear a spot isn’t needed.
His return, however, could significantly alter the team’s competition for the starting quarterback job. Second- year quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who started seven games and came off the bench for two others last year, appeared to be the presumed starter for 2020, though Rivera refused to declare him QB1 from the outset. Instead, the team traded for Kyle Allen in March and set the stage for a camp battle between the two.
But now there are three, including a seasoned veteran with a $16-million salary this season.
“This could be a very interesting challenge for us because of Alex Smith,” Rivera said earlier this week. “If Alex is healthy and continues to get healthy and we do activate him, he’s going to be in the throes of this competition. It’s going to unfold very nicely as a football team for us because competition is only going to make you better. It’s going to push the young guys, as well. I just feel really good about what we’re going to be doing as we start going forward. It’ll be a very challenging situation to make sure everybody’s reps are equitable, and their competition is the same.”
It’s likely that Smith will be eased back into the fold before the coaching staff feels he’s ready to be cut loose. How the quarterback competition unfolds from there could be as much dependent on Haskins’ development as it is on Smith’s progress.
Smith was traded to Washington in early 2018 and signed a four- year extension worth $94 million in new money. But 10 games in, he was injured on a sack by Houston’s Kareem Jackson and JJ Watt, and was carted off the field to begin an arduous and, at times, scary recovery.
Smith underwent 17 surgeries to repair the injury and clean out an infection that nearly took his life. He went from barely coherent in a hospital bed, to moving with the help of a walker, to working out again, to appearing much like the Smith before the injury, in peak condition.
Last December, Smith said unequivocally that his goal was to return to football.
“I still have dreams of getting back to where I was and getting back out there,” he told reporters. “This has been obviously a crazy ride with a lot of unforeseen turns, but without a doubt that’s still my goal.”
Those dreams are now closer than ever to becoming his reality.