Alex Smith is making progress

It was a bit of a shock when general manager John Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday that the reports of the San Francisco 49ers being among the teams that pushed to add All-Pro safety Jamal Adams were false. "Totally inaccurate," Lynch said via Matt Maiocco. "We did not ever make a call about the player." And there you go. Lynch says his team never actually reached out to the Jets about Adams, who was eventually traded to the division-rival Seattle Seahawks for a haul that included two first-round picks. That doesn't, however, mean San Francisco was uninterested in one of the best defenders in the game. The team just knew it couldn't afford

Alex Smith had been through a lot since his horrific leg injury on November 18, 2018. There was so much doubt that the former No. 1 overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers would ever play football again after a life-threatening infection, several surgeries, and a lengthy rehab that followed. Through the lens of an E:60 documentary, "Project 11," football fans received a glimpse of what Smith endured as he worked back from a gruesome compound fracture of his right leg. The quarterback isn't just lucky to have his leg; he is fortunate to be alive. Smith was with his third NFL team at the time of the injury and was five years removed from his time in the Bay Area. It was his first season with Washington, and maybe—just maybe—it won't be his

Few expected Alex Smith to ever get back on the football field after his severe leg injury on November 18, 2018. There was concern about whether or not he would ever walk again. Even his life was at risk. Surprisingly, it was reported in July that Smith had been cleared for full football activity two years after breaking his tibia and fibula during a game with Washington. Now, the former No. 1 overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers may be close to realizing his dream of a miraculous comeback. He passed his physical last week but wasn't cleared for football activities quite yet. Instead, he landed on the Physically Unable to Perform list. "As