Upon further review, ex-49ers QB Alex Smith had 17 surgeries on his broken right leg
Alex Smith, hoping to continue his NFL career was passing and practicing drop backs on Monday.
This Alex Smith update is brought to you by Pepto Bismol, which calms the squeamish stomach.
You might want to have a bottle at the ready as you read this.
I guess we all remember where we were and what we were doing when Washington quarterback Alex Smith suffered a devastating broken leg 11 months ago. Those who watched the video likely wished they hadn’t. Following his progress, which he said included six surgeries — count ’em, six! — induced intermittent queasiness. Especially in the Bay Area where we recalled his time — fondly — with the 49ers.
Turns out his road to recovery has been far worse than we knew.
The Washington Times on Tuesday reported that Smith actually underwent 17 surgeries.
The Times’ Thom Loverro reported that Smith himself revealed the amended total to “an invited audience of mostly medical professionals attending an Inova Sports Medicine event on Oct. 2 in Fairfax, Virginia.” Loverro cited an attendee who did not wish to be identified.
The crazy part? Smith told NBC Sports Washington announcer Larry Michael in training camp that he wanted to get back on the field, according to Bleacher Report.
“Without a doubt,” Smith said. “Just for the challenge sake, and for life. I still feel like I’m young at heart and got a lot left ahead of me. I want to take that on.”
As recently as Monday, Smith worked on his throwing and drop backs at the team’s practice, according to The Athletic.
You’ve got to admire the guy’s courage and his dedication to his team and the game. But it says here that he never gets that chance. Washington is already grooming its next franchise quarterback, Dwayne Haskins, with two backups, Case Keenum and Colt McCoy, ahead of him on the depth chart.
Even if all three won the lottery and quit the team yesterday, team officials would almost certainly keep Smith, 35, on the sidelines. There is little upside to playing him, and a potentially catastrophic downside.
I keep attaching this anecdote to the end of these Alex Smith stories. I do it because it keeps being relevant. It’s about Joe Theismann, a Washington quarterback who, precisely 33 years before Smith’s horrible injury, befell the same double break. Theismann wanted to come back as well.
Ultimately he worked out in front of doctors, lawyers and team personnel.
“They wanted to see me work out to see if I could play again,” Theismann told the Washington Post, which ran a story 20 years after his injury. “I went out onto the field to throw, and as I moved to my right, I was moving OK. When I tried to move to my left, I think I looked like Peg Leg Pete.
“The workout was supposed to last about 30 minutes. There were 15 people watching me when I started. When I turned my back at one point, I looked around and they were just about all gone.
I said, ‘Hey, wait, I’m not done,’ and whoever was still out there said to me, ‘Yes, you are.’”
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