Washington head coach Ron Rivera took the mic on Tuesday morning and talked with several media members about what’s taken place in training camp over the past week, updating several position battles and mentioning players who he has been impressed with so far.
While doing so, he made a very interesting comment about the quarterback situation, where he said that he was “pleasantly surprised” with the progress that Smith has made as of late, and that he can even envision him being part of the quarterback competition during this year’s training camp.
Wait for a second, say that again, please?
Ron Rivera "can envision" Alex Smith participating in the QB competition during training camp. Mentioned being able to show he can hand the ball off, protect himself, move.
— Rhiannon Walker (@InstantRHIplay) August 4, 2020
It wasn’t long ago when Smith was fully cleared by his doctors to participate in football activities, and he recently worked out for the Washington team doctors as well, where he failed the football part of his physical. Many fans and media members alike took this to mean that Smith is healthy enough to move around a bit and fire off some passes, but there is no way he’s padding up and taking snaps under center any time soon.
The comments from Rivera definitely paint a different picture though. Smith wouldn’t be participating in the competition with both Dwayne Haskins and Kyle Allen unless he was physically ready to play in a game. Washington placed Smith on the PUP list before training camp started, which buys them some time to evaluate his progress, but he can be pulled from that list and moved to the active roster at any time.
Might that process take place sooner than we were lead to believe? Maybe. For now, we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple weeks of camp.
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