Washington Football Team is embodying Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’

Alex Smith’s Mamba Mentality

On the other end, you have Alex Smith. Smith knows about struggles. He has always been known as a hard worker, but he has faced struggles throughout his career.

After being drafted No. 1 overall by the 49ers in 2005, Smith played for six different offensive coordinators in his first six seasons, while dealing with his own injuries. He was labeled a bust. He was constantly critiqued, but when you’re the No. 1 pick, that comes with the territory.

You never saw Smith get fed up. You never heard of him having any blowups with the coaching staff. What you did see was a player who would come to practice early and leave let. A player who would lead by example, regardless of the situation he was put in. He led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game, and then found himself benched the following season.

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He was traded to the Chiefs and was led them to the playoffs multiple times. In spite of that, the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes and were grooming him to replace Smith. Being the ultimate professional that he is, Smith mentored Mahomes, as he had mentored Colin Kaepernick with the 49ers. And then, he was traded again, this time to Washington.

After starting off hot, and leading Washington to a 6-3 record, Smith fractured his tibia and fibula in his right leg. He had to undergo 17 surgeries to get his leg right, almost having his leg amputated, and facing the risk of dying from a flesh-eating bacterial infection.

Forget football for a second. This man literally almost died for the game that he loves. It would have been impressive enough if he recovered and decided to call it a career, but Smith didn’t want to go out like that. He returned to the team and worked his way back to being cleared for action. After Dwayne Haskins got benched and Kyle Allen got hurt, Smith returned to the field.

And he was rusty, to say the least. After the Rams game, he was again being written off by the critics. But if you look back at everything Smith has overcome throughout his career, you already knew the critics would have to eat their words.

And here we are, a little over two months have passed since that Rams game and a hair over two years since Smith’s potential career-ending injury, and Smith is leading Washington on a four-game winning streak while putting the team into playoff contention.

Like Kobe with his Achilles injury, Smith did not let his injury hold him back. He didn’t use it as an excuse, and he continued fighting. For all intents and purposes, he should pretty much have locked up the Comeback Player of the Year Award. And here he is once again, leading by example and mentoring another young quarterback with his work ethic.

"“Having somebody like Alex in the room with me is a great example. He comes to work every day with his hat on and he grinds and he never complains. And he’s someone I look up to and he’s been helping me a lot throughout this whole process. He’s been through stuff like this before so he’s been a great person to lean on throughout this process,” said Dwayne Haskins after Washington’s win over the 49ers."

Not only Haskins has learned from Smith though. Terry McLaurin also speaks highly about Smith’s resilience and how it motivates the team to succeed.

"Alex has had every opportunity to back away and walk away from the game, and nobody would think twice. But for him to be so resilient, that not only shows the world what you can do when you put your mind to something, but I feel like it motivates our team because you have a guy who tries to put us in the best situation to be successful."

So, what would Kobe do? I think the Washington players know the answer to that question. Keep Grindin’!