Alex Smith Wins NFL’s Comeback Player Of The Year, Congratulated By Multiple NFL Players In Touching Video
Alex Smith underwent surgery after surgery after suffering an horrific injury. Then, he underwent a strenuous, dedicated recovery process. After all that, he underwent a remarkable comeback to the field, completing one of the most incredible comebacks the NFL has ever seen.
RELATED: Washington Football Quarterback Alex Smith Makes Epic Comeback to Play After 17 Surgeries
“Broken leg, 17 surgeries, a serious infection, a leg nearly amputated, he shouldn’t even be here right now,” Joe Theismann said in a video narrated by him. “It’s in these life changing moments that you find out exactly what you’re made of. You reject pain, you embrace discomfort, you get up, you relearn how to walk, you relearn how to run.”
After all that, Smith would take the field as quarterback with the Washington Football Team this season. It earned Smith the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year this season. Congrats to Alex!
The league not only took notice, but his peers of NFL present and past recognized his journey and gave him congratulatory wishes in that video narrated by Theismann, which was shown to him.
Eddie George, Eric Weddle, Tim Brown, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, Brian Johnson, Marcus Allen, Rod Woodson, Vernon Davis, Dak Prescott, Matt Nagy, Urban Meyer, Joe Montana, and Smith’s wife, Liz Smith, all gave touching, encouraging congratulatory wishes to Smith in that video.
“In a single moment, your whole life can change and just like that what you took for granted is no longer there,” Theismann said. “I’ve been there before. Same injury, same leg, even down to the same day. They don’t expect you to come back from this one. I know. I didn’t. You see, when faced with the unimaginable, there’s no one waiting with a roadmap to show you the way out, you have to pave it yourself. It takes every ounce of grit you have.”
“It was one of the greatest comebacks in sports history…Alex you’re an inspiration to me, you’re an inspiration to all of us,” Theismann said.
Smith’s teammates recognize the uphill battle Smith faced to get to this point.
“I have always said this, I have appreciated Alex from day one,” J.D. McKissic, Washington Football Team running back, said per The Washington Football Team. “The injury he went through and the work he had to put in wasn’t easy at all, but I’m not surprised. That’s the guy that is going to put the work in.”
“It’s incredible,” Kyle Allen, Washington quarterback, said during training camp via The Washington Football Team. “It’s awesome. It’s inspiring to watch. To see him at the end of the stages and watching his documentary and to see all that he went through and the gruesomeness of the injury and then to see him back out there and have a smile on his face when he takes some reps finally and really see him climb from basically ground zero to all the way up to where he’s close to being where he wants to be, it’s incredible to watch. It’s fun to watch him go out there every day. It’s just pure love of football. It’s really pure.”
You know who else recognized and respected Smith’s journey? Fellow quarterback Tom Brady, who by the way just won another Super Bowl and another Super Bowl MVP.
“Hey, I’m so…proud of you, bro,” Brady said to Smith after the Buccaneers played Washington in the playoffs via the Buccaneers as transcribed by the Washington Football Team. “You’re…unbelievable, you know that? You’re an inspiration to all of us. You’re unbelievable. Always here if you need me.”
Smith: “It was really about the pursuit”
“To me, it was more about the attempt and the journey than the outcome,” Smith said via the Washington Football Team. “If I would have come up short trying to come back, I would have slept just fine at night, knowing I tried. To me, it was about that mindset of putting myself out there and really, really attempting this. That was it. Whether or not it actually happened wasn’t the important thing. I’m lucky and grateful and so I’m thankful that I’m here right now. I’d be fine if it didn’t [happen]. To me, it was really about the pursuit.”
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