Smith retires after comeback from injury
He returned to field last season, 2 years removed from 17 operations
Alex Smith retired Monday after making an improbable comeback from a gruesome broken leg, saying he’s ready to leave the NFL but believing he’s still able to play quarterback.
Smith made the announcement on Instagram a few weeks shy of his 37th birthday, hoping to enjoy more time with his family.
“I want to say thank you for believing in me, and thank you for helping me believe in myself — and in the impossible,” Smith said. “Because even though I’ve got plenty of snaps left in me, after 16 years of giving this game everything I’ve got, I can’t wait to see what else is possible.”
Smith earned AP Comeback Player of the Year honors for getting back on the field last season, two years removed from an injury that required 17 operations. After breaking his right tibia and fibula in a game Nov. 18, 2018, against Houston, he said he wondered if he’d be able to take walks with his wife or play with his kids in the yard — let alone play in the NFL again.
He was hospitalized for almost a month and survived a lifethreatening infection in addition to the operations. Smith spent the next year-and-a-half rehabbing and was back at practice when Washington assembled for training camp last summer.
A self-professed “skinny, noname recruit,” Smith was the No. 1 overall pick out of Utah in 2005
and played 14 seasons for San Francisco, Kansas City and Washington. He threw for 35,650 yards and 199 touchdowns in 174 regular-season games and played in seven playoff games.
ALDON SMITH: A sheriff’s office in Louisiana has issued an arrest warrant for Seattle Seahawks defensive end Aldon Smith.
St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies responding to a call for medical assistance in Meraux on Saturday evening after finding a man who said he had been assaulted by an acquaintance outside a business in Chalmette, Sheriff James Pohlmann said Monday in a post on the agency’s Facebook page. Detectives identified the suspect as Smith, 31, and took out a warrant for second-degree battery.
“We are aware of the reports regarding Aldon Smith. Aldon notified us and we are gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time,” the Seahawks said in a statement.
The incident in Louisiana took place just two days after Smith signed a oneyear contract with the Seahawks.
Smith’s off-field troubles are lengthy and include four full seasons out of the league due to suspensions. Smith was reinstated by the NFL last spring after signing a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys. He had not played in the NFL since 2015. Smith appeared in 16 games last season for Dallas and had 48 tackles and five sacks.
BRADY: Tom Brady is recovering from offseason knee surgery and expects to be ready for June minicamp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaking at a fundraiser for Bucs coach Bruce Arians’ foundation, the 43-year-old quarterback joked that he didn’t know “if I can go this week.” He then added he is aiming to be back on the field relatively soon for the Super Bowl champions.
“I feel pretty good and I push myself pretty hard. … We we will see how things play out,” he said. “It is a long time between now and the beginning of the season. Just be smart about all these different things we have to do and fulfill. We all take a lot of pride in being ready to go and I am sure we will be.”
Bucs players, along with those from more than half the league’s teams, have said they will not attend voluntary offseason workouts, which could begin Monday. Minicamps are mandatory for players fit to participate.
Brady threw for 4,633 yards, 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his first year with the Bucs, who finished on an eight-game winning streak that included three straight playoff road wins and a victory in the Super Bowl, which was played in the team’s home stadium.
WATSON: An attorney for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson on Monday accused the 22 women who have filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually assaulted or harassed by the NFL player during massages of lying, claiming their assertions are based on “an avalanche of false accusations.”
The statement by Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, comes after the NFL player’s legal team filed in court its initial response to the lawsuits, alleging that eight of the women bragged about giving him massages and five “wanted to get money out of Mr. Watson.”
Tony Buzbee, the attorney for the 22 women, called the claims in the initial response by Watson’s legal team “weak and vague allegations” that are “demonstrably false.”
“As fully anticipated… Deshaun Watson’s only defense is to call these brave women liars,” Buzbee said in a statement Monday.
The 22 women accuse Watson of exposing himself, touching them with his penis or kissing them against their will while he got a massage. At least one woman has alleged Watson forced her to perform oral sex. All of the women are either licensed massage therapists or worked in a spa or similar business. The first alleged assault took place in March 2020, with the most recent one alleged to have taken place last month.
A 23rd woman had also filed a lawsuit but withdrew it after some of the women were ordered earlier this month to make their names public following court hearings. All 22 women who have active lawsuits have since refiled their cases with their names.
Hardin has said it was important that the women be identified so Watson can properly defend himself.
“In the few days since his accusers’ names have been revealed, as was required by Texas law, we are discovering an avalanche of false accusations,” Hardin said Monday.
Hardin has said “some sexual activity” happened in some of the massages but that Watson never coerced any of the women.
Watson’s legal team called the lawsuits a “money grab.” Hardin had previously alleged the lawsuits were filed following a failed attempt to blackmail his client for $30,000.
Watson led the NFL in yards passing last season. He signed a four-year, $156 million contract extension with the Texans last offseason, but he became unhappy with the direction of the team as Houston sunk to 4-12. Watson requested a trade in January.
MAHOMES: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ left toe will be one of the more closely monitored injuries around the NFL in the months leading up to the regular season. But Mahomes on Monday dispelled some concern about his continuing recovery from surgery on the toe, a procedure undertaken shortly after the Chiefs’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
The Chiefs’ signal-caller said he is out of a post-surgery walking boot and offered an optimistic time line for his progress.
“I think I’m progressing well — I think I’m ahead of schedule, myself,” Mahomes said. “I mean, obviously they’re trying to be cautious and not push me out there too soon, but I’m doing what I can.
“I’ve gotten out of the boot finally — it took forever — but now I’m trying to get back on the field and get that stuff working. So I’m sure they’ll keep me along that same pathway that I can hopefully do some stuff by the end of the offseason.”
The Chiefs officially entered the first phase of their offseason workout program Monday. For the second straight year, it will be completed virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phase III of the workouts, which includes in-person time on the team’s football fields, won’t begin until organized team activities start on May 25. That’s when the Chiefs will start conducting 10 days of on-field team workouts before holding a mandatory three-day minicamp in mid-June.
If Mahomes is able to get on the field ahead of training camp, he would indeed be slightly ahead of schedule.