Quarterback Alex Smith, who won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award to help the Washington football team win the NFC East title, is released by the franchise, a source told Adam Schefter of ‘ESPN Friday.
Washington, who went from 7 to 9 in 2020, wants to upgrade as a quarterback this offseason. With Smith, who turned 37 in May and had to count $ 24.4 million against the salary cap, the release became inevitable.
The decision will save Washington $ 14.9 million against the limit, while Smith will become a free agent.
Smith had two years left on a contract he signed after Washington changed him in 2018. He made it clear to Washington that he wanted to continue playing.
But his tenure in Washington will be defined by the rupture of his right fibula and tibia that he suffered in November 2018 and the subsequent comeback with his first game action on October 11, 2020. Between the two, Smith went underwent 17 surgeries to fight an infection and chose not to have his leg amputated.
Washington kept him in part on the list because it was too expensive to release. But he wasn’t sure he’d finish playing either. While many doubted he could do it, both inside and outside the organization, several people with the franchise often said, “If anyone can do it, Alex can do it.”
Still, after an ESPN documentary aired last spring, some members of the organization wondered if a doctor would even clean Smith to play, but he passed all the tests and was cleared. With each milestone, Smith had to prove that he could take the next step: be in the field to work from 11 to 11; make the list; jugant; starting.
He did all of that, and after starting quarterback Dwayne Haskins was left on the bench and Kyle Allen was injured, Smith started six games in 2020. Washington won 5-1 in those early days. During his three years there, Washington went 11-5 in the games Smith started and 6-27 with anyone else as a quarterback.
Smith, however, told GQ Magazine that his return threw a “key” into the team’s plans and that the organization didn’t feel wanted last summer.
“They didn’t see it, they didn’t want me there, they didn’t want me to be part of it, they didn’t want me to be part of the team, the list didn’t want to give me any chance,” Smith told the magazine. “Keep in mind that it was a completely new regime, they came in; I’m like the wreckage, I’m hurt and I’m that responsible.
“Heck no, they didn’t want me there. Right now, as you can imagine, everything I had experienced, I couldn’t have cared less about all of that. Whether you want to or not, I’m giving you this is a chance at this moment “.
Smith has not said for sure that he will return for the 2021 season, but sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler he wanted to continue playing.
Smith’s value went beyond his stats last season: he threw six touchdowns at eight interceptions. His calmness, experience and leadership proved valuable to his young teammates. Washington started rookie Antonio Gibson on the run, and of his top five receivers, only one came in last season with more than 58 professional receptions: traveler Dontrelle Inman. If Washington didn’t get a lot of production, it would at least need someone who could handle the game like Smith.
Smith suffered a bone bruise in his calf during the first half of a Dec. 13 win over the San Francisco 49ers, which prevented him from playing in the second half. He missed the next two games (both defeats) and fought in the season finale in part due to injury. Smith pressed for the Washington playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he wasn’t mobile enough for the coaches ’taste and was inactive.
Smith, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 draft for the 49ers, has started 167 career games. His team’s record in these games is 99-67-1. He spent seven years with the 49ers, who traded him to the Kansas City bosses. Smith spent five years with the chiefs; they were 1-4 in the playoffs with him. Kansas City added Patrick Mahomes to the first round in 2017 and, after that season, changed Smith to Washington in exchange for cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick.
Washington recently extended quarterback Taylor Heinicke to a two-year deal with incentives that make him worth up to $ 8.75 million. Kyle Allen is an exclusive rights-free agent and is expected to return. He also has Steven Montez, who signed last season as an unrecruited free agent.