It’s been nearly 17 months since Alex Smith suffered a devastating leg injury in Week 11 of the 2018 season with the Washington Redskins.
And his road to recovery still remains a long one.
Smith developed a severe infection shortly after his initial leg surgery and battled sepsis. Smith would need 17 surgeries to deal with the infection and even needed to consider the possibility of amputation. His life was at risk.
As part of an E60 report called “Project 11,” ESPN spent two weeks with Smith and his family, documenting that road to recovery. The aftermath of those 17 surgeries remained gruesome — even in September — as Smith showed his scarring to the ESPN crew.
When @Redskins QB Alex Smith broke his leg in 2018, no one thought it would take 17 surgeries to fix. Here’s a look at #Project11 pic.twitter.com/lwcj1l0fV6
— E60 (@E60) April 28, 2020
With all that in mind (and one look at that ankle), it would be easy to give up on football. But Smith is still chasing a potential comeback to the NFL.
He said in a segment from the E60 report:
“Football might not be out of the question. Can I go play quarterback again? Can I push it that far?”
As unlikely — and honestly, unadvisable — as the comeback seems, Smith is going to try for it.
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