The Washington Football Team has a very good football coach. They probably would be wise to hire a good General Manager, too. (Currently, they don’t have one.)
On Monday night, the team tweeted that quarterback Alex Smith passed a physical, but that he’ll be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list. However, a player who passes a physical cannot be placed on the PUP list.
Placement on the PUP list means that the player hasn’t passed a physical. Of course, this counters Smith’s recent claim that he has been cleared for all football activities.
Washington has deleted the tweet claiming that Smith has passed a physical.
So if he has been cleared for full football activities, why hasn’t he passed a physical? It could be that Washington simply doesn’t want to throw him into the fray for now, even if he could pass a physical. Ultimately, there’s no benefit to keeping him on the active/PUP list. He still counts toward the 80-man roster, and his $16 million salary for 2020 already is fully guaranteed.
When he does pass a physical, he’ll begin practicing with the team, and potentially competing for the starting quarterback job.