Former Kansas City Chiefs QB Alex Smith has been cleared by his team of doctors to resume football activities in full according to ESPN’s Stephania Bell.
The 36-year-old suffered a serious fracture to both his tibia and fibula in 2018. The battle to save Smith’s leg and life was documented in an ESPN E:60 documentary titled “Project 11.” The outlook from the documentary was bleak, but Smith was determined to get back to playing football.
In an effort to understood where he stood in the healing process ahead of the 2020 season, Smith underwent a series of CT and X-Ray scans to see if his bones had healed. His team of doctors, the Washington Football Team head physician Robin West, officially cleared him to return to football activities.
“Everyone was in agreement that my bone was in a really good place,” Smith told ESPN on Friday. “I had healed a lot. They said that given the combination of the rod and where I was with the healing process, I had zero limitations and could even resume some football activities.
“To hear them say that, from a life standpoint, they wouldn’t restrict me from doing anything — I could go skiing or snowboarding tomorrow if I wanted — then on top of that, to get the green light that I could practice, get contact, that I had healed up, that much was pretty wild to hear. I didn’t know if I would ever hear those words.”
Smith is currently undergoing COVID-19 testing and plans to report to the Washington Football Team training camp on Monday for his physical. Receiving clearance to return to practice is the next big step in his road to returning to the gridiron. Were he permitted to return, he’d join a quarterback room featuring second-year QB Dwayne Haskins and third-year QB Kyle Allen.
“For me, all eyes are on practice,” Smith said. “That’s the next step. I have to go prove to myself and certainly to everybody else that I can go practice.”
Ultimately, this is a really good sign that Smith is on the right track. Even if he’s not cleared to practice yet, he’s made progress that seemed unimaginable and should give him a better quality of life for the future.
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