Essentially ruled out for 2019 before the Redskins selected Dwayne Haskins in the first round, Alex Smith will be set for at least one more surgery. The 35-year-old quarterback must wear an external fixator on his broken leg for at least another month, Jay Gruden said (via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, on Twitter). Smith was initially spotted equipped with this apparatus nearly five months ago. Its removal will mean another operation. The 14-year veteran underwent upwards of six procedures on his injury leg, and it is obviously uncertain the quarterback will play again. Smith is under Redskins contract through the 2022 season.
Moving to another Redskins cog with a cloudy future with the team, here is the latest news out of the NFC East:
- Trent Williams is believed to want out of Washington. Earlier this year, Williams had a tumor (or a similar growth) removed from his head. The 10th-year left tackle has expressed hard feelings toward the Redskins for their handling of this matter, but he is not staying away from the team only because of hard feelings. Gruden said (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk) his longest-tenured player would not be able to practice anyway because of the recovery from the aforementioned operation. Williams rehabbed a damaged kneecap throughout the 2018 offseason and is entering his age-31 season.
- Three Kubiaks have now left the Broncos. After Gary Kubiak and his son Klint joined the Vikings’ staff, Klein Kubiak will become a Cowboys scout, according to Neil Stratton of Inside The League (on Twitter). The youngest of the coaching Kubiaks confirmed he will be Dallas-bound (Twitter link). Klein Kubiak spent five years with the Broncos. He will join the Cowboys after the organization lost area scout Jim Abrams to the Raiders.
- The Giants added three new members to their scouting staff. They brought in 16-year Notre Dame staffer Chad Klunder to become their scouting coordinator, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY tweets. Big Blue also hired former Jets pro personnel director and Lions pro scouting director Brendan Prophett as an area scout and added Corey Lockett to their scouting department. Additionally, the Giants promoted six-year pro scout Tim McDonnell to assistant director of player personnel, per Vacchiano (on Twitter).