WFT's Alex Smith: 2020 Season 'Emboldened Me' After Return from Leg Injury

Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith played just eight games this season, sat out his team's playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with an injury and struggled with consistency on his way to six touchdown passes and eight interceptions.

Yet it apparently convinced him to come back for another campaign even though he had 17 surgeries on his broken leg while he sat out from 2018 until the 2020 season.

"This year has only emboldened me that I can play at this level," he said during Sunday's episode of 60 Minutes (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post).

It is a testament to both Smith's physical and mental toughness that he took the field at all, but he was nowhere near the three-time Pro Bowler he was in his prime.

The 36-year-old struggled to push the ball downfield and often relied on checkdowns, which was at least enough to help lead the team to an NFC East crown thanks to a strong defense and weak overall division.

Still, there was a time when it appeared that Smith wouldn't play ever again after sitting out the 2019 season. As Jim Reineking of USA Today noted, Smith had to deal with a life-threatening infection and the potential of amputation on top of the 17 surgeries for his broken leg.

In terms of this season's injury, he revealed on 60 Minutes that it was a bone bruise even though the team deemed it a calf injury.

There is a potential out on his contract for 2021, but Washington is not exactly set at quarterback for the long term after parting ways with Dwayne Haskins Jr. and trotting out Taylor Heinicke for the playoff loss to Tampa Bay.

A return to the NFC East team could be in the cards in 2021 for the "emboldened" Smith.