Just a few months after retiring from the NFL, Pro Bowl QB Alex Smith made headlines after joining ESPN as a TV analyst. The NFL world reacted to Smith’s news.
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Smith is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst, the network announced Monday. He will appear on multiple shows, including “SportsCenter” and “Monday Night Countdown,” and in various capacities. The one-year deal is an experiment for both sides — for him to test the waters of sports broadcasting and for the network to figure out how best to use him.
ESPN has signed three-time Pro-Bowl QB Alex Smith to be an analyst. Smith will appear on multiple shows and in various roles, mainly surrounding NFL programming, including SportsCenter, Monday Night Countdown on select weeks and Sunday NFL Countdown from time-to-time. pic.twitter.com/wamhpYpfAc
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 16, 2021
“I’m trying to balance this next phase with my family, and ESPN was so open to the fact that they were going to kind of design something specifically for me in that sense, where I could get to do a lot of different things, which I wanted,” Smith said in an interview. “I get to experience a lot of different sides of those parts of the game. It was a no-brainer for me.”
This last year has been a roller coaster for Smith. After returning from a life-threatening leg injury, regaining his starting job at quarterback, leading Washington to the top of the NFC East and guiding it back to the playoffs, winning the league’s comeback player of the year honor, getting released by Washington and later retiring from the NFL, Smith has started a new chapter.
“Every other place was really kind of putting you into one specific role: ‘This is what you’re going to do, and you’re going to do it over and over and over again,’ ” he said. “I’m kind of excited again with ESPN to do a lot of different things and mixing it up and kind of figuring that out.”
NFL world reacted to Alex Smith news.
Though it really shouldn’t surprise anyone, the NFL world is very excited to see how Smith will perform as an analyst.
This will be a great edition – I’m excited for this. https://t.co/yJyQhxnV7t
— Zach Harig (@FOX17Zach) August 11, 2021
Break a leg, Alex!
— John Kryk (@JohnKryk) August 16, 2021
One of my favorite Niner players and well deserved for a guy who had a great career but some bad breaks along the way. I hope ESPN gives him a decent O-Line at least!
— Murphy aka lame dad (@why2ys) August 16, 2021
I stan all good things that happen for Alex Smith https://t.co/k09dZkfuls
— Sourdeath Sam (@SourdeathSam) August 11, 2021
Greatest comeback player of all time
— Conan O’Brien’s illegitimate son (@pleasesueme) August 16, 2021
Alex Smith will join a bunch of retired players that started a second career as network analysts. So it should be fun to see Smith but this time with a mic in his hand rather than a football.
