Alex Smith on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 9/10/24

is Alex Smith co-host of a new podcast glue guys with former NBA player Shane Bader and they take a deep dive into sports uh great teams across Sports and business you can tune in on Apple Spotify YouTube or your preferred podcast player look at you businessman Alex Smith how'd you get partnered up with Shane Bader Shane and I have a a mutual friend you know good buddy of mine Ry Gupta who I live in the same small town here in the Bay Area and he just happens to be a fellow dookie uh and went to school with Shane and so I've gotten gotten to know Shane through him and we just kind of hit it off and and you know somehow stumbled into this it's a great question Dan you know I I think it to be honest it's all Shane's fault I'm gonna I'm gonna blame it on him you know he's been known as the no stat Allstar you know Michael Lewis wrote this famous article about him that that why why does every team that he's on win you know and necessarily a guy that doesn't necessarily have the stats that that go with it at least the stats that we think of and what goes behind that right like what what's behind being a great teammate and a great leader and and these winning cultures and I think sometimes there's these fallacies around all those things and so we kind of have fun digging into it and chopping it up and I'm fortunate enough listen I I get asked to talk a lot about my journey my career uh mentoring you know coming back from my injury and and I think the same thing like there's these sometimes people think they're they're disney-ish you know this this idea of like resiliency and it's uh it's not you know I've been fortunate enough to be a part of great teams I never would have done any of the things uh that I was able to do without being a part of a great team and certainly my comeback was a part of that you know an amazing medical team that uh helped me get back out on the field so but do people come up to you randomly and say can I see your scars yeah oh yeah that's not especially if I have shorts on if I got shorts on yeah I get I get very curious minds coming up to me and inspecting my leg wow they want it's it's looking I mean I don't blame him it is it's much prettier than it used to be though it's come a long way but uh I don't blame him listen it's uh I actually appreciate the question sometimes and your kids don't bring you to show and tell and oh I think my kids are numb to it they saw it when it was really crazy so yeah I think they and I I hope they don't think that like that's just what a broken leg looks like you know I think that they think that that's normal um no I think they're pretty numb to it it's just dad's leg at this point that's how we walks yeah but if they skin their knees they can't really complain to you after what you went through you know well I think they do you know that's certainly part of what we even talk about on the Pod is like I mean parenting is a team too right it's a it's a great big team and and we all have different roles in it and how does that work and and so uh yeah I mean I think there's things I constantly things that I've gone through I I find myself pulling you know harms out on my kids occasionally you know which is is is funny so do you have a hard boss story we got him coming up top of next hour is there one oh do you yeah oh I got yeah I got plenty I got har boss stories for days Dan um how about one I haven't heard that would I can I can bring back to Jim to Jim all right um yeah I mean I got a few mean first off like I'll never forget when I first met him um you know like I was we were in the building I it was actually right before the lockout was going on I was getting ready to have my first child so I'm kind of sneaking in I'm getting ready to be a free agent Dan there's no way that the Niners are going to keep me and I'm not sure I really want to be back with them either you know and so but I meanwhile they still let me in the building to work out so I'm coming in the building I'm kind of sneaking in the the ground floor and working out and getting out of there and Jim comes down one day and he see I've been doing this for a couple weeks and he I think he may be caught wind and he catches me down there and he like he immediately comes up and introduces himself but he starts he's sizing me up immediately like just I I mean like literally not even being very discreet about it literally sizing me up I can tell he's like looking at my body how tall I am oh you're bigger than I thought like kind of taller than I thought and then he's like hey put your hand up I'm like what what so I put my hand up and he puts his hand up next to mine so we're hand to hand right and he's measuring my hand I mean I haven't met him this it hasn't been two minutes and so he's looking at my hand he's like ahuh all right like this it's I mean this full inspection he's like hey you want to go play catch and I was sure sure let's go so he goes in and he tap you know he's got this gnarly looking pinky on his throwing hand so he tapes up his pinky and just Jim and I go out on the practice field at the at the Niners and we play catch and we start you know he start just normal throwing right so like we're 10 yards away and tossing the ball to each other and after a few Danny starts like I can tell he's like humming him at me right like so it's like okay and he's kind of like come on bring it on and so I I start coming him back at him right here we are again like I swear it hasn't been 10 minutes since I met the guy and we're playing like pepper 10 yards apart out on the practice field just humming balls at each other as hard as we can kind of who can catch them who can throw it harder then he's like okay then we go walk over and we start throwing we playing these games these throwing games at goalpost he's like moving me around and he was obviously a lot younger I mean this was a long time ago he's you know he can still throw it and so we're playing all these throwing games at at gopost and trying to do all these contests hey do this now see if you can do this this lasts about 20 minutes 25 minutes he's like all right okay you know we walk in that's enough doesn't say anything I get no feedback at all on like how this went I mean I remember coming home to my wife and I'm like telling her about what happened and she's like what did you think I'm like I got I have no idea no idea luckily a couple days later you know I go back in work out you know Jim pops back down again says hey you wantan to go play catch again so this repeated he and I go play catch for several weeks just Jim and I playing catch and playing stupid games and pepper out on the field you know and all of a sudden this kind of led to like hey what do you think about coming back and uh that's just the way Jim is and he's one of a kind and he's all ball all ball I I say this on the podcast like Jim he would tell the team this he's like damn his life aspirations were to play football as long as he could and then coach football as long as he could and then you know that's Jim that's Jim and it's real you know so but you know what I was wondering about this I don't know if you'll get the analogy he's like Ted lasso like he just has kind of corny sayings he's his own per he's unique you know positivity all of those things it just feels like if there's a Ted lasso in the NFL it's Jim Harbaugh no there is there is and I think that's it's kind of one things I think people ask about leadership all the time you know what makes a leader and certainly the NFL world where it's a bunch of just alpha dogs right like the bigest bad biggest baddest dudes on the planet but at the core of being a leader like you got to be authentic right you can't you can't BS anybody and Jim it's authentic like he just loves football he genuinely like he is doing what he's meant to do um and as Quirky as it is like I think I know I always just appreciated the honesty in it like he just this is who he is it's different yeah but like again he loves what he's doing he's grateful for it and I think that it really sets a atone for the building in the team talking to Alex Smith the three-time pro bowler comeback Player of the Year and co-host to the new podcast glue guys with former NBA player Shane Bader what did you see with the Jets offense last night that would concern you oh to be honest I wasn't real concerned about the offense I mean listen Aaron hasn't played a whole lot of football in the last year and a half right four plays um it's to be expected that they were going it wasn't going to be smooth they're going on the road on Monday night playing one of the best teams in football like I thought it was just such a ridiculous task um to be honest I thought their defense didn't show up yeah I mean this this is supposed to be their calling card as this defense and and no no Christian mcaffrey and you know I thought maybe they'd have a chance to keep them in this game and they did for the first two drives and then that that went away um I thought Aaron looked good I I mean I there's processes in your comeback right like this guy hasn't he hasn't played in the preseason he hadn't been tackled again four plays in the last year and a half uh I thought he moved around well I thought he threw the ball well I I think they're going to be okay again the defense was probably my bigger concern really kind of out outplayed in this game by by that Niner offense and Kyle Shanahan and so uh I mean I think they'll have a chance to write the ship here this week against Tennessee but a little bit I thought it was an overwhelming task to put him back on Monday night a year after what happened um again on the road at that the defending NFC champions Tom Brady talked about these rookie quarterbacks and he used the word I think tragedy that they're being ushered in to start and you know you got to dumb down offenses and and I disagreed with it because it feels like these rookie quarterbacks most of them have played for two different universities two different offenses they've gotten money with nil these offenses in college are so much more intricate than they used to be now you're going to struggle Bo Nick struggled Caleb struggled Jaden Daniel know had moments where he looked pretty electric there so what's your reaction to What Brady had to say and then base that off what you saw week one with these rookie quarterbacks yeah generally speaking you know I I align with Tom like I I think if you're taking a quarterback in the first round I think you should do everything in your power to make sure that when they take the field like they are ready to roll I mean I just think it I've heard coach Savin talk about it and and I lived it the expectations on a first round quarterback it it's so much it's so heavy the game is so different and that it's like the worst success rate in the NFL if you look at a position basis like of drafting positions the lowest hit rate in the NFL for first round picks is quarterback and so I I I generally think that like why not have them overprepared listen if you waited a little too long could Patrick Mahomes have played earlier sure absolutely right but like what's the what was the fault of him waiting you know almost all the season and then you hit hitting like what's the what's the what's the worry about you know Jordan love waiting a couple years the the important thing is to hit on it um and I think you make you're making such a big investment in these guys I think you want to again ensure that they have the best chance to succeed with that all being said Dan I completely agree with you this year's class this year's class is an exception to the rule true I mean these guys have played more football and are more prepared as a class that I can ever remember I mean Bo Knicks has literally played more football than any football than anybody Jane Daniels 5year starter I mean these guys are very very accomplished even Caleb Williams like listen we've known he's going to be the number one pick for a couple years now I mean this guy's been dealing with expectations since high school he's played college football at the highest level even he's he's I think really well prepared for this um and and I don't think we can judge this off of one week right I mean it's the opening week this game's a blur they're they're not even going to remember this game several years from now Dan so like uh I I kind of tend to agree with you in this in this Instinct and not I think the other thing too is one rule doesn't you know one shoe doesn't fit everybody in this this thing um you know you look at CJ Stout and what he did last year obviously overly prepared and ready to take that over I think you have to look at that you know the other 10 guys in the Huddle the entire team as a whole and then obviously the individual like what system have they been in what kind of football are they playing what are we asking them to do and then go off of that but uh yeah this is an interesting year an interesting class and I think they are ready to go do you remember a specific time when you realized that Patrick Mahomes was going to be Patrick Mahomes whether practice game did you have that kind of oh where you go home and you tell your wife uhoh you know I think the thing um list I mean about halfway through the year he started to make some plays on the scout team like some of the you know the throws that we see on Sundays um you know the you know no looking like a 20- yard dig route I mean you know as a rookie like who's doing that um who even has the like the guts to do it and and then let alone pull it off but I think more so than that and what gets lost with Patrick a lot of times is like I mean Patrick beat me into the building almost every day that entire year like you know and it wasn't he didn't do it for a week he didn't do it for the first month of the Season it was just all year and Incredibly curious um he's just a grinder like a guy loves ball he's obsessed about it he you know it is again he's doing what he's meant to be doing and yes he has these spectacular talent but like more so than that like this guy I got I got the opportunity to be in Camp with them this this last training camp and I sat in meetings again for days and I'd been in that kind of environment with Patrick you know I've seen him I played golf with him you know over the last few years but I haven't sat in a meeting with him since his rookie year and to watch him operate in the meeting room Dan I I can't tell you how blown away I was like leaving there like how detailed he was like we went we went through protections I mean this guy's on every aspect of his game and I think sometimes that gets lost with the wow plays that he makes um you know and again how obsessed he is about his craft being the best quarterback in the NFL and and so I think if there was a thing that entire year it was also that like again that he he beat me in every single morning right all the way till the end the guy just loves football um loves competing you know he he wants the ball in his hand uh he not afraid of the moment so I think all those things kind of over the year showed you know showed their head and then certainly when he started the last game against Denver uh very apparent that he was ready to go you can keep a secret I got to give you credit because I'll go back to the Super Bowl in Minnesota where we had you in studio and I'm asking where you're going yeah you staying you're going 6 hours later you sign the deal with Washington you could have helped me out that day I that was a weird day Dan I remember that day well it was a very strange day you know I felt like I was not sure what I couldn't couldn't say as these are like I knew we were kind of in the you know the 11th Hour of negotiations and close and but uh very strange I apologize for that you know now being on this side of the you know the media I appreciate you know well what was the other team was there another team that was in the mix here that you were going to go to there were other teams in the mix there certainly wasn't that were very close in my opinion you know like where I wanted to go you can tell me now no to be honest like it wasn't even that you know my my trade my trade from San Francisco was probably far more competitive uh my trade from Kansas City it was very clear that that un least in my eyes that Washington was the best destination and where where I wanted to go well good luck with the podcast we'll check in with you during the year and uh great to see you again Dan great seeing you man thank you Alex Smith the former number one pick overall by the ners back in 05 it's called glue guys with Shane Bader it's available uh Apple Spotify YouTube your preferred podcast destination take a break play of the day coming up next