Ryan Fitzpatrick details ‘the worst text’ he ever sent… to Alex Smith

The Washington Football Team ended up replacing Alex Smith with Ryan Fitzpatrick during the 2021 offseason.

But apparently, the two quarterbacks had a connection before this.

It makes sense that Fitzpatrick and Smith would be familiar with one another. After all, they both were long-time quarterbacks that both have served as starters and high-end top backups during their respective careers. And apparently, Fitzpatrick was friendly enough with Smith to send him a text message after he suffered his broken leg.

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Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the worst texts that Fitzpatrick would ever send, by his estimation.

What Ryan Fitzpatrick said to Alex Smith

As Fitzpatrick explained on Chris Long’s podcast, he texted Smith to wish him well in his recovery and tried to provide him with some reassuring words. But in retrospect… his injury differed greatly from Smith’s.

"“When Alex broke his leg in that game a few years ago, I had what I thought was a similar injury: I fractured my tibia in 2014 with the Houston Texans,” Fitzpatrick said. “So the single worst text I’ve ever sent out, I sent it to Alex. I said ‘Hey, Alex, just want to let you know they’ll fix you right up, you’ll be good as new. I’m out here and I don’t feel any pain from my injury three years later.’“And I sent it and felt good about it, and he said, ‘Well, mine might be a little more complicated.’ And 17 surgeries later, and the story of what he had to overcome, I felt like the biggest a**hole.”"

Yikes, that doesn’t look too good looking back. But certainly, Fitzpatrick’s heart was in the right place and he was just trying to reassure one of his fellow quarterback brethren after a brutal injury. There’s no way he could’ve known Smith’s injury would be quite as bad as it was.

Smith has since recovered from the life-threatening injury and returned to the NFL last season, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award before retiring this offseason. Needless to say, he probably isn’t holding any sort of grudge against Fitzpatrick for the message he sent.

And looking back, he probably appreciates what Fitzpatrick was trying to do.