Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith shows the gruesome damage to his leg nearly 6 years after suffering compound fracture

Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith showed his previously broken leg, displaying just how much the gruesome injury affected his body.

Smith played in the league for 16 years with stints in San Francisco, Kansas City, and Washington. While playing in the nation's capital in 2018, Smith suffered a brutal leg injury that took him out for the rest of the year as well as all of 2019.

'I could visually see the blood pumping out, so it was a good one.'

At the time, football insider Adam Schefter detailed Smith's injuries as follows:

"Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture - meaning the bone broke through his skin, per source," Schefter wrote. "Trauma surgeons discovered Smith suffered a spiral fracture in his leg - defined as a long bone broken by a rotational force. Smith, 34, faces a lengthy rehab process to try to return."

Smith's injury was so bad, in fact, that his leg nearly had to be amputated.

"I could visually see the blood pumping out, so it was a good one. It was lucky to have it happen just before halftime. I've never had one gush like that," Smith said in 2020, per Bounding into Sports.

Smith has since revealed just how devastating the injury was, with a new, raw photo of his leg in 2024. The photo, posted by podcast "Bussin' with the Boys," can be seen here.

Smith returned for the 2020 season to earn NFL Comeback Player of the Year in what was his final season in the league.

Smith said in a 2021 interview with Sports Illustrated that he still had aspirations of returning to the NFL and described the traumatizing procedures he endured to save his leg.

The reconstruction started with a skin graft composed of skin from other parts of his body that was put through a machine called a mesher that would combine the pieces and stretch them out.

"Comes out like gym shorts," Smith said.

Doctors then rotated what remained of his calf muscle, reportedly half, and wrapped it around his exposed bone. Then, doctors took a portion of Smith's left quad and added it to his right leg for mass.

Smith never again returned to the league, however, and stayed retired. At 40, he is married with three children.

According to Spotrac, Smith made an accumulated $189 million during his time in the NFL. His final three years in the league, which included a lengthy spell on the injured list, were worth a whopping $71 million.

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