When Seattle's 950 KJR-AM announced it hired former Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril, the press release conspicuously omitted any mention of the pass-rusher officially retiring. Instead, it simply referred to the move as the "next chapter" of Avril's career.
The 32-year-old is apparently holding out hope he can still play. Avril told Bob Papa and Ed McCaffrey on SiriusXM NFL Radio's The Opening Drive he's been contacted by "a few" teams regarding his availability.
The question is whether Avril would get cleared by doctors following a career-threatening neck injury.
"But for me it's all about just seeing what the doc says," Avril said. "I'm not really too concerned about where I might end up or anything like that. I actually just told everybody that I'm going to be working at a radio station, KJR 950 in Seattle. We'll see how it shakes out, though."
"I'm definitely ready [to move on if the doctor recommends as much]," he said. "I've had about eight months now to kind of wrap my brain around it. My wife and I, we've been talking about it. We talk about it pretty much every other week, just understanding, 'Hey, if you're not going to play anymore, what's next? Start preparing yourself for that.' And that's kind of where I'm at right now. I'm OK if I'm not able to play ball. If the doctor tells me, 'Hey, you should definitely reconsider not playing,' I'm OK with that at this point of my career."
Avril added he's feeling "a lot better" in his recovery, but still waiting to get clearance from doctors. If that permission never comes, the philanthropic pass-rusher is ready to move on to the next phase of his career.
