Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith has been cleared for football activity and activated off the physically unable to perform list, the team announced Sunday morning.
The move is the next positive step in Smith’s remarkable recovery from a leg injury that nearly cost him his life.
Smith, 36, sustained a gruesome compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula during a November 2018 game against the Houston Texans. The injury required 17 surgeries, many of them to fight a life-threatening infection. Smith’s injury and recovery were featured in an ESPN documentary released earlier this year.
Smith’s wife took to social media to post a video of a family celebration on Saturday night, signifying the next step in his recovery.
“Hard work pays off! Lots to celebrate in the Smith house tonight,” Liz Smith wrote on Instagram.
Smith told ESPN on July 24 that his surgeons had cleared him for full football activity. The team opened training camp with a cautious approach by placing Smith on the active/PUP list.
Smith joins Dwayne Haskins and Kyle Allen as active quarterbacks for Washington.
Haskins, who was the 15th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, completed 119 of 203 passes for 1,365 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine games (seven starts) last season.
Allen, who was acquired in a trade with Carolina, completed 303 of 489 passes for 3,322 yards with 17 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in 13 games (12 starts) in 2019.
Smith completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 2,180 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 starts during his most recent season in 2018.
The 49ers drafted Smith with the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, and he played seven seasons in San Francisco and five with the Kansas City Chiefs before joining Washington in 2018. For his career, he is 94-66-1 as a starter with a 62.4 percent completion rate, 34,068 passing yards, 193 touchdown passes and 101 interceptions.
