Alex Smith Will Likely Be A Free Agent In 2021
According to a source close to USA TODAY Sports, the Washington Football Team has plans to cut their 37-year-old quarterback and the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, Alex Smith. He has a $24.4 million cap hit in 2021 which is a large chunk of change, plus his mobility is limited as a quarterback.
My only question is: hasn’t this guy been through enough?
From 2005 to 2012, Smith played for San Francisco, made a Super Bowl, and got traded to the Chiefs immediately after the Super Bowl loss in 2013. Then, he went on to bring the Chiefs to the playoffs four out of his five seasons there and also made three pro-bowls in that time. After that, Patrick Mahomes was drafted in 2017 by the Chiefs, and Smith got traded in 2018 to the then-Redskins when Kirk Cousins left. Once he got to Washington, Alex Smith was winning the NFC East with a record of 6-3 going into Week 11 of the 2018 season.
From there, the rest is history. During the Redskins’ Week 11 matchup against the Houston Texans in 2018, Smith completely shattered his tibia and fibula. Alex Smith went on to miss all of the 2019 season and played his first snap since the injury on October 11, 2020. He then started six games, won five, and contributed to the Football Team’s 7-9 record that was good enough for the last playoff spot. AND Smith was inevitably given the Comeback Player of the Year award following the 2020 season.
The Football Team Didn’t Want Alex Smith In 2020
Now, in 2021 the Football Team is likely to cut Alex Smith, making him a free agent. This situation just reeks of a charity case that has run its course, since Alex Smith claims that the Football Team didn’t even want him back in 2020. Smith spoke to GQ and said:
“When I decided to come back, I definitely threw a wrench in the team’s plan,” he told the magazine. “They didn’t see it, didn’t want me there, didn’t want me to be a part of it, didn’t want me to be on the team, the roster, didn’t want to give me a chance.”
I can understand why the Football Team wouldn’t be ecstatic about the idea of starting a quarterback that suffered a gruesome injury and did not play for two years, but he was no chump when he went down in 2018. Yet somehow, Smith found the motivation to give it a shot.
“Mind you, it was a whole new regime,” Smith said, “They came in, I’m like the leftovers and I’m hurt and I’m this liability. Heck no, they didn’t want me there. At that point, as you can imagine, everything I’d been through, I couldn’t have cared less about all that. Whether you like it or not, I’m giving this a go at this point.”
The Football Team also re-signed Taylor Heinecke who stunned everyone during his playoff game against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers and the team will probably draft a quarterback. Once again, Alex Smith will retain his underdog status in 2021.
