Washington quarterback Alex Smith hasn’t made any definitive statements about his plans for the 2021 season, but he continues to sound like a player who wants to keep playing.
Smith was the comeback player of the year after returning from more than a year out of action because of a severe leg injury. He completed two-thirds of his passes while helping Washington win the NFC East, but missed their playoff loss with a bone bruise to the same leg.
He was noncommittal about his plans at the end of the Washington season, but sounded like he was leaning toward playing later in January. During a podcast appearance with Kyle Brandt of TheRinger.com, Smith said last season’s experience “only fueled me even more that I can roll and keep going” and signaled he thinks he can be even better in 2021.
“Obviously, I’ll take some time here and sit down with my wife -- she deserves obviously quite a bit of input in this -- and then go from there,” Smith said. “So no rush to make that decision here like tomorrow, but just kind of want to get into this offseason. I still feel like I’ve got a lot of room for growth on the field, based off what happened this last year.”
Washington hasn’t closed doors on any of their options at quarterback, so a decision to play another season doesn’t guarantee he’ll be back with the team. The eventual landing spots of players like Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson would help shape what other teams might be possibilities should Smith’s path lead out of Washington.