Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
QB Smith retires
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.
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 life-threatening 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.
Smith’s first game action since the injury came Oct. 11 when Kyle Allen was injured, and he made his first start at Detroit on Nov. 15. He went 5-1 as the starter, including a victory at Philadelphia in Week 17 on a strained right calf that clinched the NFC East title for Washington.
“He accomplished the greatest comeback in professional sports history and was a huge part of our team’s success this past season,” owners Dan and Tanya Snyder said in a statement. “We witnessed every step of Alex’s comeback, and he personifies perseverance, strength and the will to never give up.”