Redskins alum Joe Theismann sheds light on Alex Smith’s injury

By the time the news settled, the nation knew that Redskins quarterback Alex Smith’s injury was bad. But now, we’re learning just how bad it was.

Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture in his tibia and fibula in a matchup between the Washington Redskins and the Houston Texans. He required immediate surgery after the ordeal, and in the aftermath of the initial surgery, several infections delayed Smith’s recovery process, and ultimately led to the near complete reconstruction of his tendon.

Smith recently broke his hiatus from the public spotlight, first appearing on a podcast discussing his injury. Then, just days ago, it was revealed that Smith had finally removed his external fixator, a device designed to keep the reconstructed leg from losing structural integrity. For now, things are looking up for Smith. But playing football is still a distant goal at best.

Former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann recently appeared on NFL insider Ian Rapoport’s podcast called “RapSheet and Friends”, and in it, he discussed the gravity of Alex Smith’s leg injury. We knew it was bad. But in reality, it could have been much, much worse.

“I was there that night,” Theismann said when asked about Smith’s injury, “and as soon as it happened… I turned to [my wife] Robin and said ‘that’s exactly like [my injury]. And he’s had complications with it. He came very, very close to losing his leg, and fortunately, he still has it. Alex, for sure, will not play this year… We’ve talked a lot. He wants to play. He’s playing golf and he wants to throw the ball around. He’s excited and ambitious and he wants to get out and do it. The problem is, it’s still in the healing process. How long is it gonna take?”

“He wants to [return], and I hope he does… but it’s going to be a long road.”

You can listen to the entire RapSheet and Friends podcast by clicking the link below, and if you want to skip to the part with Theismann, it begins around the 16-minute mark. In addition to his comments about Smith and small talk on golf, Theismann also spoke about the Redskins quarterback battle and the team as a whole. But his comments about Smith stand out, both for their gravity, and for the unique perspective provided by a quarterback who suffered almost the same injury.

Theismann said, in addition to his earlier comments, that Smith’s injury was complicated further because the injured leg is his right leg, or “the power leg”. Theismann said that Smith may never be able to lift his body weight the same way off of that leg, and that his weakness there could impact his entire throwing motion. Theismann mentioned that as a pivotal reason for why his return to football never happened, and he spotlighted that as an area of concern for Smith’s bid to bounce back.

For now, however, Smith can set lofty goals, because those goals and that ambition could very well be his ticket back to the sport he loves. But Theismann, a man who’s been in contact with Smith, and a quarterback who went through a similar episode, expressed the same hope, and skepticism, mirrored by onlookers today.