Alex Smith doesn’t blame anyone who watched the documentary about his horrific leg injury for coming away with the impression he should never play football again.
The ESPN special, after all, documented how close the quarterback came to losing his life due to an infection, how many surgeries it took to repair his leg and how difficult his life has been since his leg was shattered on the football field in November 2018.
Smith gets the logic: He’s made millions. He has a loving family. He’s accomplished a lot in 16 NFL seasons, more than most. And at 36, he’s still relatively young enough, in the grand scheme of things, to do something else.
Smith, though, can’t imagine walking away. Not now.
Speaking to the team’s Julie Donaldson, Smith said Monday he couldn’t “sleep at night” if he had retired without attempting a comeback.
“I think that’s kind of the easy thing to think,” Smith said of people who believe he should retire. “For me, it’s taking on that challenge. … I don’t think I could look my kids in the eye and talk to them about giving it their all and pushing them (if I didn’t try). We all talk about adversity in life and it comes in different forms. Was I going to talk about it or was I going to be about it?
“For me, that’s what it is.”
A day after returning to practice for the first time in 21 months, Smith said it was “really, really special” to join his teammates on the practice field.
Smith has been eased into practice, and in Monday’s interview, he confirmed that so far, he has been limited to individual drills.
He reiterated that his ultimate goal is to play in an NFL game again. Standing in his way, then, could be Dwayne Haskins, the team’s incumbent starting quarterback.
Asked about Haskins, Smith said he looks forward to competing his “tail off” with Haskins and the other quarterbacks on the roster (Kyle Allen, Steven Montez). He added he believes he can still mentor Haskins along the way and will be a good teammate however the competition unfolds.
“To twist that he and I or any of our career paths are against each other, I think is definitely not the truth,” Smith said of Haskins. “He has his path in front of him to continue to try and reach his potential. He knows that and it’s about him going out there every single day and getting better. It’s no different than me, trying to find out what my potential is now.”
Smith is known for helping quarterbacks, even as they’re groomed to replace him. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes has credited Smith for playing an instrumental role in his development. Mahomes sat behind Smith for a year in 2017.
And when Colin Kaepernick signed an extension with the San Francisco 49ers in 2014, the quarterback thanked Smith and said he “wouldn’t be here” without his guidance. Kaepernick replaced Smith in 2012.
Smith’s role as a mentor is part of his legacy. But if he’s able to truly come back from his broken leg, he’ll more likely be defined by one of the most remarkable recoveries from catastrophic injury in league history.
On Monday, Smith said the last thing he was concerned about was his legacy. Instead, he said, he was just focused on returning to practice, making the most of his recovery.
“At some point, I’ll find out what my limitations are,” Smith said, “but I haven’t found them yet.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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