Alex Smith expected to part ways with Washington Football Team in coming days

If Smith is released, the team would take on $10.8 million in dead cap money — or money it already paid Smith that will still count against its salary cap — but will save roughly $14 million in cap room. Smith’s departure was considered a possibility this offseason both because of the size of his contract and the fact that he struggled with a bone bruise in his surgically repaired right leg late in the season that kept him from playing in Washington’s first-round playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The news, which was first reported by the NFL Network, comes less than a week after an interview Smith gave to GQ Magazine was published in which Smith said that his comeback last offseason disrupted Washington’s plans. He said the team “didn’t see it, didn’t want me there, didn’t want me to be a part of it, didn’t want me to be on the team, the roster, didn’t want to give me a chance” last summer as he attempted to complete his comeback from his injury.

“Mind you, it was a whole new regime, they came in, I’m like the leftovers and I’m hurt and I’m this liability,” Smith added in the interview. “Heck no, they didn’t want me there.”

Smith arrived in Washington in 2018 via trade with the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick. After leading Washington to a 6-3 start that year, he was injured on a sack in Week 11 against the Texans. Smith’s right leg snapped under the weight of Houston defensive end J.J. Watt and safety Kareem Jackson, and later underwent 17 surgeries to repair the bones and clear out an infection that destroyed the surrounding tissue.

This story will update.