Former Washington quarterback Alex Smith appeared on the Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday. Among the topics discussed, Smith’ touched on his time in Washington and how the off-field drama surrounding the organization affected the team’s play on the field.
He also had some sage advice for the Commanders’ incoming quarterback Carson Wentz.
“I think you’ve got to try to eliminate the noise there,” Smith old Eisen (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post). “There’s a lot of noise. There’s a lot of distractions. That entire organization, everything surrounding it and obviously, deservedly. It’s been flawed the last 20 years. There’s a lot of stuff going on there, a lot of distractions, and it makes it difficult to kind of focus in on the football.”
As Smith noted, Wentz is in a “make-or-break” opportunity in Washington after being traded each of the last two offseasons. The dreadful endings at both Philadelphia and Indianapolis have put a spotlight on the embattled quarterback.
Playing with the Commanders this season may indeed be his final chance to prove he is an NFL starter. Smith says Wentz has to eliminate the distractions that go on within the Washington organization and lock in on football.
Eisen followed up by asking Smith if the distractions within the organization’s front office affected his ability to focus on football?
“How could it not?” Smith responded. “For me, yeah all the stuff there with just the entire organization from ownership down, head coaching and GM. There’s been historically a lot of drama there…
“There’s a lot of turmoil, a lot of distractions. So to say that the stuff going on in the building doesn’t infiltrate the locker room or out on the field would be crazy. That happens everywhere. I think that’s what great organizations eliminate, and the bad ones have a hard time with it. All that noise creeps into the building.”
Smith’s comments just add to negative headlines that are associated with the Commanders franchise. But his words come from a bird’s eye experience.
Alex Smith spent the final three seasons of his NFL career in Washington. In his first season, he suffered a career-altering leg injury in 2018. He made a miraculous and courageous comeback in 2020, starting six games to help lead Washington to an NFC East division title and a playoff berth.
During his time he played under two different head coaches — Jay Gruden and Ron Rivera and two different front office makeups. Yet, the same dysfunction hovered over the franchise.
Among the numerous distractions, there was a league investigation into the organization’s workplace culture stemming from multiple allegations of sexual misconduct during Smith’s final season in Washington in 2020.
Wentz enters the franchise two years later with a second league investigation into sexual misconduct. This time stemming from direct allegations against the Commanders owner Dan Snyder.
