Ron Rivera admits he was initially afraid to play Alex Smith

Alex Smith made a remarkable comeback from his gruesome leg injury to play capably for the Washington Football Team in 2020, but there were real reservations about making it happen.

Washington coach Ron Rivera admitted that he was nervous about putting Smith on the field, noting that he didn’t want to be the guy who sent the quarterback out only to get hurt again.

“It was always in the back of my head, what if he gets hurt again? What if he hurts that leg again? I’ll be the guy that put him back on the field to get him hurt again,” Rivera said Wednesday, via John Keim of ESPN. “I struggled with that every day. That was tough.”

Rivera even admitted that Smith was partly right when he said that he got the sense the team didn’t want him. The coach admitted there were legitimate concerns about his ability to play at that point.

Smith is a free agent after being released by Washington by mutual agreement. Assuming he tries to keep playing, it will be interesting if the same things go through the mind of his next coach.