Alex Smith suffered a drastic injury in 2018 while playing for the Washington Redskins (now Washington Football Team). The former number one draft pick suffered a spiral and compound injury to his tibia and fibula when he was sacked by Houston Texans’ Kareem Jackson and JJ Watt.

The former Kansas City Chiefs’ man had to undergo 17 surgeries over the last two years in order to recover.

He underwent eight debridements across four separate hospital visitations over a period of nine months after he developed life-threatening sepsis on his leg following the initial surgery.

At one point, Smith was told that he’d have to amputate his leg in order to save his life. He was also told he would never play football again.

But the veteran quarterback weathered the storm and was declared fit to return by his doctors last month. He was put on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list by the Washington Football team.

However, Head Coach Ron Rivera is confident that Smith could challenge for a starting berth if he regains total fitness in the coming weeks.

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Don Rivera confident of playing Alex Smith this season

While speaking to the Washington Post, Rivera spoke about Smith’s chances with the first team this year. He also addressed the arrival of Dwayne Haskins.

“This could be a very interesting challenge for us because of Alex Smith. If Alex is healthy and continues to get healthy and we do activate him, he’s going to be in the throes of this competition.

“It’s going to unfold I think very nicely for us as a football team. This competition is only going to make you better, it’s going to push the young guys as well. So I just feel really good about what we’re going to be doing as we start going forward.

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“It’ll be a very challenging situation to make sure everybody’s reps are equitable and their competition is the same,” Rivera told the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala.

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SOURCE: NFL Network, Nicki Jhabvala- Twitter