Chiefs’ Reid, Mahomes: If anyone can make it back from this horrible injury, it’s Alex
The chances of Alex Smith playing football again after a gruesome leg injury suffered in 2018 that became life-threatening because of infection will come down to the decisions of doctors, Smith and his family, and that’s the premise of ESPN’s new documentary about Smith entitled “Project 11.”
But some of those in Kansas City who know him best said don’t count Smith out.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid on Friday called Smith “a tough, tough guy who is highly competitive,” and someone who “has this drive that is ridiculous. You know how much the game means to him. He doesn’t just play the game for the money or how he looks in a uniform...He plays it because he loves the game.
“When a guy like that gets an injury like this that’s potentially career-ending, especially as well as he was playing, it breaks your heart. Everybody’s pulling for him. ... If anybody can come back, if he wanted to come back, he’s the guy. If he chooses to go that route, we’re all pulling for him.”
Patrick Mahomes succeeded Smith as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. The players were teammates in 2017. Smith was traded to Washington after the 2017 season and Mahomes was elevated to the role of starter in Kansas City.
“I knew a lot of the stuff that was going on as far as the surgeries and when he had the infection,” Mahomes said. “But knowing the person and the attitude he has, I can see how he’s made so much more improvement. He has the mind-set of going out and begin the best person he can be every single day.”
Mahomes said Smith was among the first to send him a text message after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIV victory on Feb. 2 in Miami.
Reporter Stephania Bell, a physical therapist and ESPN injury analyst who once worked at KU Med Center, and executive producer Andy Tennant started working on the story in January 2019, two months after Smith, in his first season with Washington, was sacked by the Houston Texans J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson. Smith’s right leg bent backward toward the end of the play, causing a spiral and compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula.
That was only the beginning of Smith’s ordeal.
Smith developed sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition caused by infection that spread to his blood, and at one point amputation seemed like a best-case scenario.
Smith’s mother, Pam, relayed a conversation she had with doctors about saving Smith’s leg ... and his life. This portion of the show launches a stretch of unsettling images. Smith underwent 17 surgeries, and other parts of his legs were used to piece together the injured leg.
Then came a long rehabilitation that included work at the Center for the Intrepid outside of San Antonio, Texas, where care is provided for servicemen and women who are injured in combat.
“There, he finally got to talk to people who knew what it was like to have that kind of injury,” Bell said.
The documentary includes interviews with surgeons and doctors, Smith’s family members and coaches. Reid and then-Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, now head coach of the Chicago Bears, are among those featured.
Smith addresses his career arc, including the pain of losing his starting job with the 49ers to Colin Kaepernick and being traded from the Chiefs to Washington for cornerback Kendall Fuller, who’s since re-signed with Washington.
But mostly it’s about the long road back from a horrible injury, a story that Smith wanted to tell.
“There was no road map to follow; no one had had this type of injury,” Bell said. “And I think that sparked in him the interest to do the documentary. If it can help somebody moving forward after this type of setback and the unknowns and come out on the other side ... I think it was a brave step for him to take, not knowing how everything was going to turn out.”
Spoiler alert: Smith is shown at the end of the documentary playing with his children, and that provides a happy conclusion for now. But there is more on the quarterback’s mind — including a potential return to the NFL.
On this, only time will tell.
”Football might not be out of the question,” he says. “Can I go play quarterback again? Can I push it that far?”
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Chiefs’ Reid, Mahomes: If anyone can make it back from this horrible injury, it’s Alex."