Alex Smith’s Amazing Comeback(?)

[Warthog]

Originally Posted by mooby

1. All this talk about Alex Smith was paid an insane contract is nonsense. He was paid the going rate for a NFL caliber starting quarterback at the time. You can put a lot of things on Bruce Allen, but this isn't one of them. It's standard practice to trade for a guy and then give up a long term extension to complete the deal, otherwise the player might not agree to the trade.



2. I'm not saying Alex Smith is doing this for the wrong reasons, his track record as a team player goes back to when Kaepernick was on the 49ers. He will absolutely be an asset for Haskins to have around. And I'm not disputing his mindset right now is "I want to go as hard as I can for as long as I can, and be the first quarterback to come back from an injury this severe."



3. I think it's a perfect storm of circumstance, we knew after he went down that we had to hold onto him for at least 2 years because of the cap implications. This gives him 2 years minimum to rehab his leg and hopefully worst case scenario be able to step away from the game with no long-term complications. Best case scenario he comes back from the brink of having his leg cut off and plays football again, whether as a backup or starter. But even in his best case scenario he would only be competing for a starting spot on a team, most likely as a bridge to the next long-term qb of a franchise. So he has the motivation to do this, and he has the comfort of knowing his cap hit means he's here until next offseason at a minimum. But realistically, even if he does come back and prove he belongs on the 53, it hopefully won't be as a starter here because that would mean Haskins is a bust. I personally hope Haskins seizes this opportunity and removes all doubt whatsoever that he can be a stud qb in this league. And even if he doesn't, I consider it highly unlikely the Redskins would go into next offseason thinking Alex Smith deserves the starting job again. Alex Smith will either retire next offseason or the Redskins will release him and he will battle on another squad for a starting or reserve job.

Mooby, you know after really looking at Alex Smith’s last three years, I have to admit that you are mostly RIGHT about his contract. His contract was in line with other QB contracts in 2017.Alex had the following PFF rankings versus other QB in the NFL from 2016-2018:

2016: 21 out of 32
2017: 7 out of 32
2018 (until injury): 22 out of 32. It was noted in 2018, that his long pass attempts and TDs were in the BOTTOM THREE in the NFL. In other words, Alex was throwing lots of short, but safe, passes - even when the team was losing.

It is easy to look at Alex Smith’s excellent ranking in 2017 and see why Bruce Allen became enamored with him. But how much of it was Alex Smith and how much of it was the Chiefs ascension to a superior offense?
That’s what Bruce Smith was paid to do as GM - try to predict how Alex would do with the Redskin’s offense, not with a excellent Chief’s offense.

Bruce paid for Alex based on his superior performance in 2017, on a very, very good team. In my opinion, Bruce was running scared and wanted to hook an exciting NAME in the off-season, which was his modus for his decade as the GM. Big splash in the off-season - “winning off the field”, and win just enough games in the season to be able to say, “we’re close”. Close to what??. Back in 2016-2017, the press had pummeled Allen for the Cousin’s drama and so he traded Kendall Fuller to the Chiefs for Alex - a player they were going to release anyway. Could he have got Alex cheaper? Probably, but Bruce didn’t care about that. He was desperate to get a name for the next season. In 2018, the Redskins had a good record out of the gate (6-2) but I think Defensive coordinators had figured out how Alex was playing and were countering that when he was hurt.

Another factor is age. Although we have seen phenomenal QB like Tom Brady play into his 40’s, many other QB see a decline at Alex’s age. Also, Alex was let go by two separate teams. That’s telling you something - they didn’t want him as their #1 QB. Obviously, when you have a QB of Mahome’s caliber, you can’t hold him down.
But teams didn’t know which Alex Smith was going to show up - the below average QB of 2016, 2018 or the smoking QB of 2017.

Obviously, there was no way to predict the injury he had. But Bruce Allen knew our OL was shaky, so he should have been looking for a younger QB who could take hits and/or could scramble.

I think Bruce overpaid for Alex Smith a little, but Mooby you are right - it was in tune with
with the QB salaries for his level in his excellent 2017 season. The mistake was with Bruce Allen not drafting a QB while Cousin’s was under a franchise contract. When they couldn’t hold Cousin any longer, Bruce had to pay top dollar for the biggest QB name available- regardless of age or whether he fit our team or not.


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[Schneed10]

The first 90 seconds against Tyson are probably just as challenging as coming back from this leg.

[redskinsfan402]

I believe that the best decision is to let Smith continue his recovery before making any drastic moves with him. Let him mentor Haskins until Smith is once again a contender (if he decides to) for the QB spot, and then have them "battle" it out and then pray that nothing terrible happens again.

[Buffalo Bob]

Originally Posted by redskinsfan402

Let him mentor Haskins until Smith is once again a contender (if he decides to) for the QB spot, and then have them "battle" it out and then pray that nothing terrible happens again.

That really serves no purpose. Even if he got back to 100% Alex Smith isn't the future of the Redskins. Alex Smith has no upside. If Haskins lost the battle to Alex it would do nothing but delay his development and the ability to decide whether the Redskins need to use a high pick on a QB in 2021.

[OnceWeWereKings]

Smith will never play another snap, but wont retire until this guaranteed money isnt coming in. To think otherwise is ridiculous. Hind sight is always 20/20...the contract seemed a bit much just because of the guaranteed money....but a team that needs a qb will do that. The injury was unforeseen, and the only real reason anyone is upset about the contract (now). We knew it would handcuff us, but we expected to have a game manager that we could start building other parts of the roster up. Obviously we were drafting heavily on the defensive side. I believe this was all part of a plan. The injury throws the whole equation off. But to think that Smith is going to play again is absurd. I agree with sunny. Both sides are doing exactly what they have to right now in this situation. Retiring on his side would be nonsensical, and cutting him would be nonsensical. You can really tell it's the slow part of the season with threads like this.

[SolidSnake84]

Originally Posted by OnceWeWereKings

Smith will never play another snap, but wont retire until this guaranteed money isnt coming in. To think otherwise is ridiculous. Hind sight is always 20/20...the contract seemed a bit much just because of the guaranteed money....but a team that needs a qb will do that. The injury was unforeseen, and the only real reason anyone is upset about the contract (now). We knew it would handcuff us, but we expected to have a game manager that we could start building other parts of the roster up. Obviously we were drafting heavily on the defensive side. I believe this was all part of a plan. The injury throws the whole equation off. But to think that Smith is going to play again is absurd. I agree with sunny. Both sides are doing exactly what they have to right now in this situation. Retiring on his side would be nonsensical, and cutting him would be nonsensical. You can really tell it's the slow part of the season with threads like this.

I don't mean any disrespect to you, but what makes you know for certain that Smith never plays again? Cooley talks about him all the time and has said several times that he does believe that Alex Smith will be playing somewhere this coming season.

I think his comeback from where he went from nearly losing his leg, to nearly dying from infection, to get back to being able to walk without a cane, and then from there, go back to working out on a football field again, running, throwing, dropping back etc., is nothing short of miraculous. He for sure has a warriors' heart and for someone to not give the man a fair chance to tryout / workout would be cruel when you think of how much Alex wants it himself, and how far he has came. If Alex is aware of all of the risks which i'm sure he is, it's his life if he wants to do it. If he gets a fair medical evaluation and someone signs off on him, i think he deserves the chance.

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

I don't mean any disrespect to you, but what makes you know for certain that Smith never plays again? Cooley talks about him all the time and has said several times that he does believe that Alex Smith will be playing somewhere this coming season.

I think his comeback from where he went from nearly losing his leg, to nearly dying from infection, to get back to being able to walk without a cane, and then from there, go back to working out on a football field again, running, throwing, dropping back etc., is nothing short of miraculous. He for sure has a warriors' heart and for someone to not give the man a fair chance to tryout / workout would be cruel when you think of how much Alex wants it himself, and how far he has came. If Alex is aware of all of the risks which i'm sure he is, it's his life if he wants to do it. If he gets a fair medical evaluation and someone signs off on him, i think he deserves the chance.

Everyone loves a good comeback story and it would be great to see him take the field again he is a great person and easy to root for but should he and the saine answer the common sense answer is no he shouldn't.

[SolidSnake84]

I guess only time will tell with Alex. He is pursuing this comeback relentlessly. I have to assume his family is supporting the comeback efforts, otherwise he probably would have retired almost immediately once he got relatively healthy again following all of the surgeries.

That being said though,many people are reporting that no professional athlete has ever suffered that serious of an injury with all of the following complications and yet still tried a comeback after, so he is in uncharted territory here.

For anyone who remembers the whole Theismann ordeal, how long did it take for Joe to come out and admit retirement? Did Joe have to retire right away or did he too attempt a comeback at some point, but ultimately not get medical clearance?

[Buffalo Bob]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

For anyone who remembers the whole Theismann ordeal, how long did it take for Joe to come out and admit retirement? Did Joe have to retire right away or did he too attempt a comeback at some point, but ultimately not get medical clearance?

From Wikipedia:

The compound fracture of the tibia and fibula led to insufficient bone growth during Theismann's recovery, leaving his right leg shorter than his left. As a result, the injury forced Theismann into retirement at the age of 36.

So it appears Theismann never had a chance at a comeback.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

I guess only time will tell with Alex. He is pursuing this comeback relentlessly. I have to assume his family is supporting the comeback efforts, otherwise he probably would have retired almost immediately once he got relatively healthy again following all of the surgeries.

That being said though,many people are reporting that no professional athlete has ever suffered that serious of an injury with all of the following complications and yet still tried a comeback after, so he is in uncharted territory here.

For anyone who remembers the whole Theismann ordeal, how long did it take for Joe to come out and admit retirement? Did Joe have to retire right away or did he too attempt a comeback at some point, but ultimately not get medical clearance?

I was at the game when he broke his leg. I will never forget it cause the people behind us had one of those old school portable tv's. They cut if off after the replay cause they were so disturbed.

Anyway, JT did his rehab at the old Redskin Park all off season from what I remember. When the spring finally came around JT was asked to go out on the field and do a workout. It didn't go well and it was determined that he could no longer play. Cooke told him to collect on his Lloyds of London insurance for a million dollars, which he did.

[MTK]

https://youtu.be/w8dB2hiGW4Q


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[skinsfan69]

There are some pictures floating around on the net of Smith's leg after surgery. I was going to post it but it was too disturbing so you can look it up if you want to. If it was in fact his leg, I can not believe that he still in fact has his leg.

[MTK]

One look at that pic of his leg tells you he's not playing again.

His injury was similar to ones soldiers suffer in combat.

It's great that he's pushing hard to get back to as close to 100% as he can, but he's not playing again. Looking forward to the ESPN special on Friday.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by MTK

One look at that pic of his leg tells you he's not playing again.

His injury was similar to ones soldiers suffer in combat.

It's great that he's pushing hard to get back to as close to 100% as he can, but he's not playing again. Looking forward to the ESPN special on Friday.

It looked like a picture of someone who was already dead and their leg was in decomposition state.

[sdskinsfan2001]

I can't believe they didn't have to amputate. And definitely not surprised it got an infection.

Alex Smith is related to Chuck Norris. Has to be. Tough SOB.