Alex Smith named Comeback Player of the Year

[Bulldog]

I think the GQ article pretty much summed up Smith's playbook.

Leave Washington with the narrative he was not appreciated here and then go somewhere else 'to continue his NFL career' and prove a symbolic point to the WFT, even if it is playing for a couple million dollars as a backup in 2021.

Who knew after being traded out of SF and KC just as those teams were about to ascend to the SB that Smith in his mid to late 30's still had that big of an ego, but evidently under that smile and calm exterior he does.

The irony of course is that if Smith retires from the NFL in the future and takes a job in a front office facing a situation with a veteran quarterback whose salary is out of whack with where he is physically in his career, Smith will probably cut him without a second thought as the financially responsible thing to do

 

[Boone]

I'm not going to beat on Alex Smith. He made a couple of self-serving comments out of frustration (and probably embarassment). I'm seeing fans getting all up in their feels about it, as if he personally disrespected the entire fanbase. I think that's a little much. We've all done and said things that weren't warranted or even correct in the context of a challenging situation. It's not like it's unique to him. Compared to most of the folks leaving DC over the past 20 years, that was pretty mild stuff. I don't think accusing any NFL QB of 'having an ego' is going to be a headline anywhere either. Sort of comes with the territory

 

[Primus Porcus]

And Alex Smith has announced his retirement

 

[Canadian Hog]

That is the right move in my opinion. He has nothing left to prove. Going out as Comeback Player of the Year; there is no better high for him in my opinion than that considering all he had gone through.

Congratulations and thank you to Alex Smith.

 

[Boone]

I predicted back in February that he wasn't going to want to be a backup at this point in his career and I'm not 100% sure there was a team out there that was even super interested in him for that role. Urban Meyer reportedly wanted to sign Alex, but the team doctors nixed the idea. It's a bit of a shame that he left DC with the indignant attitude. The Redskins supported Smith in every possible way through the biggest crisis of his life, and even gave him the chance to end his career the way he wanted to - on the field under center. There was really no reason for him to air negative vibes - other than that he likely greatly over-estimated the market for his services elsewhere. Wish he'd kept those thoughts to himself, but I will always be an Alex fan.

 

[Chris]

I am very pleased to see this decision by Alex. Selfishly I now no longer have to hold my breath on every one of his dropbacks.

I would wish him all the best but I am confident that he is going to be just fine.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I am happy he retired. Even though he wasn’t with the team anymore, I would have cringed every time he played. I would probably cry if he got hurt. I remember MLB pitcher Dave Dravecky coming back from having cancer removed from his arm. Then after a few successful starts, his arm just snapped on a pitch. He never pitched again and eventually had his arm amputated because the cancer had returned. But I think about that with Alex. I would hate to see something horrible happen to him. What he did was heroic and an inspiration to everyone. Yes his last month or two here were less than ideal, but I think by retiring, he realizes why the team did what they did. Maybe he doesn’t and he still holds a grudge, but I’m guessing he will get over that.

 

[Bulldog]

So, in the end result Ron Rivera was not a heartless coach and Smith wasn’t disrespected here.

His injury, age and time away would have any new coach reluctant to buy into the player as someone to count on.

For a guy who got $60M from the team mostly to rehab rather than play you would think he could have moved on with a smile rather than a rank session interview.

I suppose Rivera’s epiphany just came earlier than Smith’s 👻

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I definitely feel like Rivera was vindicated in his decision. Most of us thought that leaving Smith in against Philly almost cost them the playoffs. So Ron was more than generous to Smith. At the same time, I’m trying not to kill Smith in this because I do feel his reactions were mostly a defense mechanism. He could see he was being pushed out and he wanted to play. In the end, Smith was wrong, but I believe he knew he was fighting for his career.

The bottom line is this. He can now go off and enjoy life with his family. Hopefully it’s a long and healthy life.

 

[Bulldog]

The ending of the season was interesting.

At first the thought was the team was riding Smith because he had a 4-1 record in his starts and the team only needed one more win against a team that finished 4-11-1.

But then when you saw Taylor Heinicke play an entire game against the Buccaneers, a much better football team, you wonder if is performance in a game against the Eagles would have lead to a much more solid victory than the way we hung on at the end, etc.

If Heinicke was showing sharp passing together with good mobility in practice to Rivera the fact Rivera stuck with Smith as a veteran shows a bit more loyalty than Smith was willing to admit when leaving town.

He seemed to make it out that from Day 1 until the day he was released that no one here gave him a break or believed in him.

Evidently, at least as far as the playoff push is concerned that was not true.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

He seemed to make it out that from Day 1 until the day he was released that no one here gave him a break or believed in him.

I think that was just exaggeration to make his story look even better. A fish story if you will. I said this earlier, even he admitted he had his doubts. Everyone did, which does make his comeback remarkable. I expect to hear this as a part of his story, whether it’s true or not, for years to come.

 

[Primus Porcus]

This is getting kind of old....

He told friends he would not complain if they released him, told him he wasn’t good enough, or deemed him too much of a risk.

your contract made that impossible Alex... you're smarter than this.

Still, he did not understand the tactics his coaches used to keep him sidelined. First, they placed him on the Physically Unable to Perform list, even though world-renowned doctors had pronounced him physically able to perform. At camp, players wore GPS trackers, and none traversed 4,000 yards a day on average like Smith, whose coaches asked him to carry extra weight, push sleds and hurdle bags for drills—tasks he had never done in 15 pro seasons, let alone before his leg had to be rebuilt. Smith believed the team wanted to see if it could break him, and if that sounds paranoid, the team physician agreed with him. They seemed to be asking, Dr. Robin West says, “What can he withstand?”

“Are you sure you’re clearing him?” the coaches would ask. West would try and explain. The short answer: Yes. The disclaimer: She would assess his leg based on her informed medical opinion. “I got very little support,” she says. “He almost died. He almost lost his leg. Why would he want to?” Reasonable questions. “That’s not your decision,” West told them.

And rightfully so.. You're doing things nobody else has ever done because you're overcoming something nobody else has ever overcome. Pushing him well beyond the normal limit to test a leg is reasonable because there was no baseline or previous experience to bank on.

Smith found the coaches “patronizing,” meaning he believed they preferred a cute story, the comeback already at the end. His father, Doug, says he believes the team “sabotaged” the return. None of the Smiths could figure out why. The coaches could worry about the injury and his future, but they were not experts. “I’d rather have somebody right in my face say, What are you thinking?” Smith says. “It pissed me off.”

(Rivera, as part of a statement to SI provided by a team spokesperson, says: “I was scared to death about putting [Alex] back out there and that is something I struggled with every day. It’s unfortunate that he feels we patronized him because I can tell you that was not our intention. At the end of the day, I commend Alex because he proved everyone wrong and exceeded any reasonable expectations that anyone had set for him. He not only made it back onto the field but led us to the playoffs. It was a truly remarkable feat.”)

This is really getting old.... and it's not lost on me how ironic it is that this whole interview is being held at a private island vacation home in Maui. His checks still cleared. He did not say "if you won't play me, lets renegotiate my contract down to make it financially doable." Nah, he held onto that guaranteed money and they held onto the right to be overly cautious and continue running a business. How bad would it have been for business if he went out there and got hurt again? I'm sorry but I've lost a lot of respect for Alex because he's casting stones and expecting the team to work on his schedule. This is the NFL, NO player gets things on their own schedules.


Sorry for the rant.

 

[Boone]

‘...the Washington Football Team didn't quite know what to make of his return. He understood the hesitance, same as he recognized his own anxiety.’

It’s fine to say ‘I understood their hesitancy’ but everything he says in this article indicates he didn’t. He made it all about Alex and proving something, not about what was best for the team.

Imagine if, having allowed him to take the field again, he’d suffered another horrific injury. What article would Sports Illustrated have written then? I imagine they’d be hitting the organization for irresponsibly putting Smith back out there. The idea they were ‘sabotaging’ him rather than what they were clearly doing - trying to put the most capable QB on the field while safeguarding Smith from further injury - is ridiculous.

Ron Rivera deserves better and honestly Smith is acting like a diva here. Disappointing. I get he went through something none of us can fully appreciate. But that doesn’t give him the right to impugn the coaching staff or organizations motives and character.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

You are both right. It is getting old. I’ve been trying to cut him some slack, but how much longer can he beat this dead horse? I know he’s trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame, but good grief. I’m sure this interview was done prior to him retiring, but he had to have realized by that point that no other team wanted him. He can think they Team sabotaged his chances to further his career, but no other organization was willing to take on that risk. Just go retire in peace. He may think he’s winning over some people outside the organization by saying this, but eventually that will wear off the more he talks.

 

[Primus Porcus]

You are both right. It is getting old. I’ve been trying to cut him some slack, but how much longer can he beat this dead horse? I know he’s trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame, but good grief. I’m sure this interview was done prior to him retiring, but he had to have realized by that point that no other team wanted him. He can think they Team sabotaged his chances to further his career, but no other organization was willing to take on that risk. Just go retire in peace. He may think he’s winning over some people outside the organization by saying this, but eventually that will wear off the more he talks.

But I don't think he is...

Rivera, Mayhew, and Zampese are very respected members of the NFL community, and 95% (my opinion) of other decision makers in the NFL likely would have handled it EXACTLY the same way. NFL people know that his contract made it virtually impossible to release him prior to the end of the 2020 season... and if 'forced' to carry him on the team they likely don't let him touch the field.

The other thing that spouts me off about this is that after the GQ article he said things were taken out of context... first off Alex Smith is smart enough to know how things would be taken. That was not some local beat reporter catching him outside the locker room after an emotional loss.. it was a scheduled interview... so if people wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, he just doubled down on it so the context argument is gone.. if it was 'taken out of context' once, you don't come back and say it again. This has seriously hurt my opinion of Alex and I don't understand the need for this. It's one thing to be pissed off about how your career has ended, but to act like Rivera and company perpetuated it, or some how did not give you more chances than most would have is flat out incorrect.

 

[MikefromOH]

looks like Ron was right. Alex came in and won some games for us, but in the end his body just couldn't hold up.

I feel no pity for anyone talking shit about people being cautious. Nobody expected him to come back, he almost lost his leg, and taking extra precaution only make sense.