WFT's Alex Smith Wins 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award

Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith won the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award on Saturday:

Smith received 49 of a possible 50 votes, per the Associated Press' Josh Dubow. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger received the other vote.

Smith was the slam-dunk winner of the award from the moment he entered an NFL game for the first time in nearly two years during a Week 5 clash with the Los Angeles Rams.

The 36-year-old University of Utah product had been sidelined since a November 2018 game against the Houston Texans when he suffered serious leg injuries that eventually led to life-threatening complications and questions about whether his right leg would require amputation.

In February 2020, Smith told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap he was "very much lucky to be alive" and in a position where playing football was still possible.

"[I'm] so thankful for everyone that's had a hand in this," he said. "My wife, kids and family and doctors and nurses and PTs and trainers and so many people that have helped me to be sitting here."

The first pick in the 2005 draft returned to make eight appearances (six starts) for the WFT during the 2020 season. He completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 1,582 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. The team went 5-1 in his starts en route to winning the NFC East title.

Smith missed the club's playoff game, a Wild Card Round loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because of a calf injury, but he received kind words from Bucs quarterback Tom Brady.

"Hey, I'm so f--king proud of you, bro," Brady said after the game. "You're f--king unbelievable, you know that? You're an inspiration to all of us. You're unbelievable. Always here if you need me."

Smith was noncommittal about his NFL future after Washington's postseason elimination.

"I had so much fun this year, to be back in the locker room and on the field to play a game I love and to lose yourself in it is one of the great feelings in the world," he told reporters. "My wife has been through a lot, my family has been through a lot, but that's for another time and place."

Before the injury, Smith was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and played for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Making it back on an NFL field after a life-threatening situation will perhaps go down as the defining accomplishment of his career, though.