Dr. Alexis Colvin talks impact of Alex Smith’s leg injury

After the initial shock wore off from Sunday’s injury to Redskins quarterback Alex Smith — two broken bones in his lower right leg that evoked comparisons to the gruesome injury suffered by Washington’s Joe Theismann 33 years earlier — questions began to emerge about the longer-term ramifications of the injury.

Would Smith, at 34, be able to make a full recovery following major surgery? And if not, what impact would that have on the team’s future roster and salary cap, given that Smith signed a four-year, $94 million contract extension with the franchise this offseason?

Redskins Coach Jay Gruden said Monday that Smith was facing a six- to eight-month recovery timeline, which would put Smith comfortably in range of being available for the start of next year’s training camp. But a report later that evening by ESPN’s Adam Schefter — which described the injury as a compound spiral fracture and said Smith faced a “lengthy rehab” — raised doubts about how quickly Smith might be able to return to the field.

The team would not provide further details about the injury, repeating only that Smith suffered a broken tibia and fibula.

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