Offensive lineman Branden Albert is reportedly considering an National Football League return just one week after retiring, but the Jacksonville Jaguars announced Tuesday that they placed him on the reserve/retired list.
This pretzel of a situation is of Jacksonville’s own making. He reportedly told the Jaguars that he wants to come back, but ESPN is reporting that the team might not let him.
On Monday, he notified the team that he wished to return to play.
He skipped all of the offseason conditioning programs for the Jaguars and the team’s organized activities due to wanting to sign a new deal with the team. Albert’s contract wasn’t guaranteed, but he could have made almost $9 million this upcoming season. Albert worked with the first-team offense on the first day of camp, but Robinson practiced with the first-team offense in the next two practices. Albert sat out Jacksonville’s offseason workouts but participated in three days of preseason camp before releasing a statement last Monday that said he had made a decision to call it a career.
Albert is a two-time Pro Bowler (2013 and 2015) and has started 118 games in nine seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and Dolphins.
Albert initially announced his retirement on July 31 following three practices in training camp.
On an off day July 30 Albert talked with a teammate about the upcoming 2017 season, but the next day arrived at camp and told Doug Marrone the head coach that he made a decision to retire.