According to Ian Rapoport and Kim Jones, the Washington Football Team is expected to part ways with QB Alex Smith in the coming days.
Smith remarkably overcame a brutal leg injury to win the AP Comeback Player of the Year award this past season but it’s clear the 36-year-old is not in Washington’s future plans.
Rapoport says Smith still wants to play and another team might give him an opportunity to do so.
“I had no idea how my leg and body would respond to the combination of being out for two years and the injury and the limb salvage and all that stuff; I’ve got to wear a brace to do anything,” Smith said during an appearance on 10 Questions with Kyle Brandt. “I had no idea how I would respond to that. It’s one thing to go out there one day and roll, but could I do it over the course of the season?
“And that I think was the most encouraging thing for me. I pounded on my leg every single day harder than I ever thought I would and I felt like I got stronger and stronger and stronger and the more I pushed it, the more my body responded and my leg for that matter. I felt like if anything it only fueled me even more that I can roll and keep going.”
According to Over The Cap, cutting Smith frees up $14.7 million in cap space for Washington while creating $8.6 million in dead money.
Smith, 36, is a former first-round pick of the 49ers back in 2005. After seven years in San Francisco, Smith was traded to the Chiefs in 2013.
Smith was in the fourth year of his five-year, $76 million contract that includes $45 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $10.8 million for the 2018 season when he was traded to Washington.
Washington and Smith later agreed to a four-year, $94 million contract that included $55 million fully guaranteed.
In 2020, Smith appeared in eight games for Washington and completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 1,582 yards, six touchdowns, and eight interceptions.
We’ll have more on Smith as the news is available.
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