Su'a Cravens' season with the Washington Redskins is officially over.
The Redskins placed the second-year safety on the reserve/left squad list on Monday, which prevents him from returning to the team for the rest of the season.
"We sincerely hope that Su'a uses this time away from the club to reflect upon whether or not he'd like to resume his career in the National Football League in 2018," the Redskins said in a statement released by the team.
The development comes roughly three weeks after the Redskinsplaced Cravens on the exempt/left squad before the start of the season. Cravens has been dealing with an undisclosed health issue and, as NFL Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Mike Garafolo pointed out, was contemplating retirement.
As late as last weekend, however, several sources informed of the situation told Rapoport the Redskins expected Cravens back with the team this week. However, Rapoport did stress Cravens' situation was complex and could change.
Cravens' agent, Fadde Mikhail, had been in touch with team brass recently, and coach Jay Gruden had been in touch with Cravens, Rapoport reported. On Saturday night, Cravens was spotted at the USC-Texas game hanging out with Doug Williams, the Redskins' senior VP of player personnel.
In early, September, Gruden expressed optimism Cravens would return to the team at some point this season, adding "he is one of our guys."
"I think sometimes your personal life is more important, and, in this case, for him, it is," Gruden said two weeks ago. "I just think that there are some things really weighing on his mind that he has to take care of. So if he gets those things cleared up, then sure, we will take another look at him."
