The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ex-Pro Bowl LT Clady retiring
Former Broncos first-round pick plagued by injuries.
Ryan Clady, the talented and towering tackle whose nine-year NFL career was checkered with injuries, is retiring from football.
“I’m excited about what life holds for me going forward,” Clady wrote Tuesday on Twitter, where he thanked the Broncos and team owner Pat Bowlen for bringing him to an organization where he was “blessed to experience eight great years, four Pro Bowls and a world championship.”
The Broncos selected him 12th overall in the 2008 draft out of Boise State, where Clady made a pivotal block on the Statue of Liberty 2-point conversion play that stunned Oklahoma in the January 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
Among a dying breed of plug-and-play tackles in the NFL before colleges turned so heavily to spread offenses, Clady allowed just half a sack in his first 20 NFL games.
But injuries slowed him down and the two-time AllPro missed both of Denver’s Super Bowl appearances in recent years, first with a foot injury and then with a knee injury.
Clady signed a $52.5 million, five-year contract in 2013 but would play in just 18 games over the next three seasons before the Broncos traded him to the Jets, where a shoulder injury ended his 2016 season in November. He underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and the Jets declined his option for this season.
Seahawks: Strong safety Kam Chancellor signed a three-year extension through the 2020 season that raises the likelihood Chancellor
will retire having played only in Seattle. Chancellor’s new deal is worth up to $36 million with $25 million guaranteed, a hefty payday for a 29-year-old whose physical style of play has led to big hits but also a variety of injuries during his career.
Tuesday’s announcement was a stark change from two years ago when Chancellor was a training camp holdout because he was unhappy with his contract.
“I don’t think the relationship ever fell off. I think it was just a process. The past was the past and I put that behind me two years ago and it worked,” said Chancellor, a two-time second-team AllPro selection and a four-time Pro Bowler.
Ravens: Guard Nico Siragusa, a fourth-round pick, was carted off the field late in Tuesday’s practice with torn anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee,
sources confirmed.
Siragusa will miss his entire rookie season, becoming the seventh Raven since June 1 to be lost for the year because of an injury, suspension or retirement.
Tight end Crockett Gillmore, who tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during practice Friday, will be out at least five months, coach John Harbaugh confirmed.
Jaguars: Rookie running back I’Tavius Mathers was strapped to a board and carried off the practice field after experiencing “neurological symptoms.”
Mathers collided with defenders during camp drills. He raised both arms as trainers removed his jersey. He was taken to a hospital for further evaluation, and the Jaguars say he was conscious during the move.
Mathers is a 5-foot-11, 203-pounder from Murfreesboro, Tenn. He spent
three years at Mississippi before transferring to Middle Tennessee State for the 2016 season. He ran for 1,561 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior last year, averaging more than 120 yards a game.
Packers: Rookie defensive tackle Montravious Adams will miss time at training camp because of a foot injury. Coach Mike McCarthy said before practice that Adams had surgery this week and will be out “multiple weeks.” Adams, a third-round pick out of Auburn, joins fourthround pick Vince Biegel, a linebacker from Wisconsin, on the sidelines because of foot injuries.
Browns: Coach Hue Jackson said he will use Friday’s intrasquad scrimmage to determine the quarterback depth chart entering the preseason. Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler and rookie DeShone Kizer have been taking practice snaps, in that order, during camp.