Alex Smith’s unimaginable return to football seems imminent.
The veteran quarterback will undergo his physical exam with Washington team medics on Monday, and he is expected to begin training camp on the list actively / physically unable to perform, reported Ian Rapoport, a member of the team’s network. NFL, and Tom Pelissero of the NFL network. With Smith in the building, he will be able to lend his wisdom to his younger teammates in the quarterback room as he continues his work on the field, Rapoport added.
Monday’s development comes after it was revealed on Friday that Smith’s doctors cleared him to return to soccer activities.
Smith’s horrible and complex fracture ended his season in November 2018, but that was only the beginning of his problems. Smith underwent surgery to repair the fracture, and soon afterward developed a carnivorous bacterial infection that nearly killed him. He soon became septic, shifting his doctors’ focus from a path back to the field, to find a way to save his life.
Thus began a long and arduous journey for the quarterback, who underwent 17 surgeries and used a complicated halo-like contraption known as an external fixator to keep the leg stabilized at all times. He was finally released from the device a little over a year ago, but his path back to normal life was far from over.
Now, it seems like their long battle is finally ending. Smith’s future might not lie in Washington, where the franchise was forced to plan for the future in Smith’s absence, recruiting Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins in 2019 and essentially putting him behind the wheel going into 2020. But if Smith He ends up taking more than one ceremonial snap in his NFL career (all signs seem to be pointing to him doing so), completing one of the most unlikely return stories in the history of the game.