Washington Football Team’s Alex Smith Favored For Comeback POY

• Alex Smith has the shortest odds at +400 to win the NFL’s Comeback Player of The Year Award.
• Smith was activated off the team's Physically Unable to Perform list on August 17.
• Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger are tied with the second shortest odds to win the COY

WASHINGTON D.C. – Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera now has a quarterback competition on his hands in his first season with the team.

This past weekend Washington activated Alex Smith off the teams Physically Unable to Perform list, which meant he could now practice with the team. It is expected that Smith will compete against second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins for the team's starting job.

“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," Rivera said last week. "It’s going to unfold very nicely as a football team for us because competition is only going to make you better. It’s going to push the young guys as well."

It has been a long road back to the NFL for Smith, who last played in 2018 after breaking both his tibia and fibula. During his recovery from surgery Smith’s leg became infected and he had to undergo a total of 17 surgeries en route to his NFL return.

Incredible to see Alex Smith on a football field again. Welcome back!

(via @WashingtonNFL) pic.twitter.com/YG2ml5moNO

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) August 16, 2020

After two years, Smith returned to practice for the first time yesterday, where he only did individual and 7v7 drills.

The former No. 1 overall pick's return has led to sportsbooks listing Smith with the shortest odds to win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year (COY) Award at +400, giving Smith the slight edge over Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and New England Patriots signal-caller Cam Newton who both have +500 odds.

Smith’s Case For Comeback Player of the Year

Smith has the best case to win the Comeback Player of the Year award after the number of surgeries and length of his recovery to even get back to practicing at the NFL level.

Smith’s progress with the team will be something to monitor as time goes on as if he does beat out Haskins, he’s a lock to win this award no matter if he were to lose the starting job later in the season.

Washington could also opt to play it safe with Smith and allow him to mentor Haskins throughout this season, but it seems Smith is being given every opportunity to compete and that’s the biggest downside to taking Smith’s current odds.

As for now, bettors should take the +400 odds for Smith to win this award as his Comeback trumps any other player in the NFL’s going into the 2020 regular season. While he’ll first need to beat out Dwayne Haskins for the starting job to really solidify himself as the frontrunner for the COY award, if he is unable to do so he’ll still have the most compelling case.

The Washington Football Team will host the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 of the NFL regular season and in between that time expect the quarterback controversy in the nation’s capital to heat up as we get closer to kickoff.