Alex Smith named Comeback Player of the Year

[SilentThreat]

Spin baby, spin!!!

I still feel the same way. He has value, but I don't think it's $24m

 

[MikefromOH]

I still feel the same way. He has value, but I don't think it's $24m

he has already mentored 2 QBs that ended up in the super bowl. he did it without complaining or being a jerk like Favre was. He will make a great coach one day, too.

 

[Bulldog]

I give credit to Andy Reid for Patrick Mahomes' development as well as Mahomes himself.

I think Smith gets too much credit for 'developing' the other quarterbacks who ultimately succeeded him with their teams.

Right now, NO ONE knows if Alex Smith at 37 is a candidate to stand upright for 16 games or any sequence of games given his physical challenges. That calf injury to me showed how long a player his age with his history can be knocked out with a relatively minor injury.

The best thing for this team to do is MOVE ON from Smith just as we moved on from Trent Williams and Quinton Dunbar.

For both Smith and Williams they are more history than future in the NFL at 37 and 33 and Dunbar chose to pick a public fight with a new head coach when he was already under contract for the upcoming season.

With that article in GQ, Smith made himself into more of a distraction going forward than an asset if he were to remain here in DC.

But again I think Smith would not have said what he did if he thought he was going to be returning.

 

[SilentThreat]

Mahomes would disagree with you...

 

[SilentThreat]

Answer:


Question: What's the easiest way to guarantee WFT fans aren't sad to see you go..

This makes no sense to me. He signed here while we were still the Redskins.

 

[Bulldog]

Smith wouldn't have given the interview to GQ if he had any intention of mentoring ANY quarterbacks in Washington in 2021. That was the move of a guy that wanted to set the narrative before the team made any kind of move to potentially release or waive him. I smile a bit when I read people saying that Smith would need to take a pay cut to come back and a 'reasonable' salary for a backup helping to develop a young qb would be $3-4M. It seems clear that Smith has no such intentions. He's not at age 37 accepting that going forward he is a backup or that he is a player for $5M or under.

I think his thought process is he either is going to retire and indicate its HIS decision after playing in 2020 OR he is going to go to another team and try and prove he can build off 2020 and get back to where he was in 2018 before the injury or even 2017.

BTW, I did not mean to say that Smith didn't help these quarterbacks. Yes, he was probably a LOT more collegial with them in helping them learn how to analyze film and adjust to the pro game. He wasn't a Tom Brady or Favre or Rodgers that was only interested in himself.

But Patrick Mahomes has unique skills. Like Favre in a way, Mahomes makes throws off balance, side-armed, and on the move to the left across the field as a right handed qb that many other players simply can't make and that is an innate skill you can't teach.

It is those hand/eye coordination skills and natural feel for the game you can't really transfer from player to player. You have it or you don't.

If Washington drafts a quarterback a quality coaching staff will do the most to develop him at this level. Joe Gibbs' staff was able to put Jay Schroeder, Mark Rypien and in spots Stan Humphries in position to succeed despite their limitations. Imagine what they would have done with a Steve Young -probably win another 2 Super Bowls.

I don't think the thought process with Washington is that they are going to try and get Smith back at a lower salary to mentor a TBD quarterback taken in the draft or acquired via trade.

Smith confirmed that is not what he wanted to do either.

 

[MikefromOH]

Andy Reid has never been a great HC. He has just had great players on his teams.

making 4 NFC Championships and 0 super bowls proves that.

Everyone knows that Smith mentored and never complained once about it. The players know, the staff knows, the fans know.

 

[Boone]

Protestations to the contrary aside, certainly feels like Alex is taking shots on the way out (or trying to accelerate his exit). I don’t begrudge anyone their personal view on the name, but seems like a weird time to be expressing it. Didn’t have a problem with our former racist name when he was depositing that big ass check. I like Alex so it just makes me feel sad to see him go out on a sour note.

 

[MikefromOH]

F Alex now for that.

Not sure what's wrong with him, but acting like he is isn't going to get him anything positive

 

[SilentThreat]

Protestations to the contrary aside, certainly feels like Alex is taking shots on the way out (or trying to accelerate his exit). I don’t begrudge anyone their personal view on the name, but seems like a weird time to be expressing it. Didn’t have a problem with our former racist name when he was depositing that big ass check. I like Alex so it just makes me feel sad to see him go out on a sour note.

yeah i dont get it. This all is SO far out of the character we have all understood that Alex was. Why now? Am I supposed to believe that the WFT broke him? He got traded away from 2 different teams after mentoring his replacements... why does THIS business decision open up some level of animosity?

 

[Bulldog]

That's unfair, Mike.

Andy Reid is in large measure in charge of personnel on his teams as well as being the head coach.

In Philadelphia, he took a player in Donovan McNabb that had some definite skills and put him in an offense that allowed him to maximize that and minimize his weaknesses. We saw as McNabb aged that his great mobility was a much more important component of his success as his near conversion to being a pocket passer was less than successful.

He took the 2004 Eagles to the Super Bowl where they lost by a field goal to New England.

One of the losses in the NFC title game was to Kurt Warner and the Rams team that set the record for points in a season.

In KC, Reid drafted Mahomes at #10 as nine other teams passed on him.

Again a young quarterback the team has drafted is very productive soon after taking the field for him. That's not a coincidence.

Neither is the fact Reid did not leave Mahomes bereft of talent on offense as some other clubs have (several years both Russell Wilson and Tom Brady had no skill position stars at all). Pro bowlers at TE and WR, running backs that can both run and catch as dual options.

The Chiefs were very close to going back to back as SB champions.

When I look at KC playing the SB without both starting tackles and a OG that sat out the season due to COVID as well as Mahomes having toe surgery the week after the game, I think KC was trying to win with one hand tied behind their backs.

You could say that Bill Walsh won the SB because he had great players too. But who scouted and drafted them? Who put them in an offense suited to their skills? Who set the stage for an organization that had been a habitual loser to be the most successful team post-merger before the New England dynasty came along?

 

[SilentThreat]

Andy Reid has never been a great HC. He has just had great players on his teams.

making 4 NFC Championships and 0 super bowls proves that.

Everyone knows that Smith mentored and never complained once about it. The players know, the staff knows, the fans know.

I tend to believe he's a pretty good HC but there has always been the narrative that Alex had A TON to do with the development of Mahomes... He never went scorched earth which further throws into question wtf this is all about... and to GQ of all platforms...

 

[MikefromOH]

thats right..he did have one super bowl. the one where his QB choked and puked and the WR was a nutjob. Great coaching!

He has/had no control over his own family and has never been known as a leader for any football team hes coached. he just hasnt. its obvious to anyone watching.

a good QB is productive while he gets to sit on the bench watching a proven winner show him the ropes. If Mahomes had just been thrown to the wolves like most QBs are there is a good chance he doesnt make it.

If Mahomes didn't have the ability he does, he would be another McNabb running for his life while getting killed.

 

[Boone]

I’m sort of past getting mad about a name change and/or how anyone felt about ‘Redskins’ - even one of our current QBs. He didn’t have any problem with ‘the Chiefs’ whose name is viewed as equally egregious by Native American cultural activists and I doubt he was shamed during the countless tomahawk chops he witnessed.

 

[SilentThreat]

I’m sort of past getting mad about a name change and/or how anyone felt about ‘Redskins’ - even one of our current QBs. He didn’t have any problem with ‘the Chiefs’ whose name is viewed as equally egregious by Native American cultural activists and I doubt he was shamed during the countless tomahawk chops he witnessed.

he also signed an extension to play here... when there was $70 mil on the table Redskins didn't bother him but now the comments come out as the two parties are clearly going in different directions? It just comes across very hypocritical. The question posed on the youtube page did not say it was racist, HE added that narrative to the response. He also giggles almost like it was scripted but regardless of the context, why? Why even go there?

 

[Boone]

thats right..he did have one super bowl. the one where his QB choked and puked and the WR was a nutjob. Great coaching!

He has/had no control over his own family and has never been known as a leader for any football team hes coached. he just hasnt. its obvious to anyone watching.

a good QB is productive while he gets to sit on the bench watching a proven winner show him the ropes. If Mahomes had just been thrown to the wolves like most QBs are there is a good chance he doesnt make it.

If Mahomes didn't have the ability he does, he would be another McNabb running for his life while getting killed.

I don’t think his family ought to be brought into the discussion. Lots of great parents have tragedy strike their kids. I would’ve loved to have had Reid Coach our guys. Yeah, the beef on him was his teams never won big on the post-season. That’s laid to rest and he may not be done winning Super Bowls. Mahonmes is a huge part of that, but that’s the way it is, HC is going to get some credit.

 

[MikefromOH]

I don’t think his family ought to be brought into the discussion. Lots of great parents have tragedy strike their kids. I would’ve loved to have had Reid Coach our guys. Yeah, the beef on him was his teams never won big on the post-season. That’s laid to rest and he may not be done winning Super Bowls. Mahonmes is a huge part of that, but that’s the way it is, HC is going to get some credit.

Not tragedy. It's a pattern that's been going on for decades.

He has a super bowl win. But, he's overrated as heck.

 

[Boone]

he also signed an extension to play here... when there was $70 mil on the table Redskins didn't bother him but now the comments come out as the two parties are clearly going in different directions? It just comes across very hypocritical. The question posed on the youtube page did not say it was racist, HE added that narrative to the response. He also giggles almost like it was scripted but regardless of the context, why? Why even go there?

Like I said, he obviously resents how Rivera handled his situation and probably feels embarrassed they are looking for his replacement while he’s still on the roster. I think ST said it - you don’t make comments like that if you expect to have a future with a team. I’m not sure why they don’t just release him, although now it will look like it’s in retaliation for a stupid GQ interview.

I will always think Alex is a good human but it is a shame it has to end with any kind of bad feelings.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Smith has gone from putting a wedge between he and the organization to now putting one between he and the fans. As others have said, he had no problem taking the money from the team when they were called the Redskins. It's just sad that he has let others decide for him what he should think. He's not alone in that as we have seen several former players all of the sudden have a problem with the name so they can just go with the flow and not be challenged on the name. I think the majority of fans have just accepted the team name is gone and have moved on. But in situations like this, it seems that these players are insulting our intelligence when it comes to the team name of Redskins. But hey, I bet it sure appeased the GQ writers and readers.

 

[Hog Fever]

He sounds a little like a passive aggressive ex-girlfriend. I know our organization isn't the best, and they have a long track record of doing dumb stuff, but they just don't seem that out of line here to me. He rehabs on his own and then shows up for the season? Yeah, I'd be skeptical of his health too.

In the end doesn't the team look just a little justified? He was clearly not the same player he was before the injury. He only started 6 games and ended the season injured, and don't tell me it wasn't related to the existing leg injury somehow. Every time he got sacked everyone held their breath (not just the first time either). Any team who signs him with the idea that he's going to start 16 games next year is high.

As much as I dislike Smith's act here we can't win by calling this hypocrisy out publicly. It will just have to speak for itself. As an organization we should take the high road, wish him the best and move on. Smith somehow managed to find a way to win games he started here and for that I'll say "thanks". That said at no point in his time here did I ever get the feeling that he was capable of winning a playoff game or beating the elite teams when it mattered.