Riggo's Rag
FanSided

Redskins Rumors: Su’a Cravens considering retirement ahead of season

By Jacob Camenker

TAMPA, FL - AUGUST 31: Defensive back Su'a Cravens #36 of the Washington Redskins warms up before the start of an NFL game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on August 31, 2016 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - AUGUST 31: Defensive back Su'a Cravens #36 of the Washington Redskins warms up before the start of an NFL game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on August 31, 2016 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Su’a Cravens is expected to be the starting strong safety for the Washington Redskins this season. According to sources, Cravens considered retirement but ultimately decided against it.

One of the most important building blocks to the Redskins future is Su’a Cravens. The versatile second round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft was one of the team’s top rookie performers last season. Playing at the middle linebacker position, Cravens was excellent in coverage and showed solid tackling skills. He played mostly in reserve, but did enough to earn a starting spot at his college position of safety.

However, in the first preseason game, Cravens suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the preseason. The injury was thought to be a malady that would take two or three weeks to heal. As of right now, Cravens hasn’t returned to practice and is in doubt for the beginning of the season

But the injury is not the only thing making Cravens questionable. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cravens was considering retiring yesterday, but ultimately didn’t go through with it. Schefter said the following on Twitter.

This is certainly a strange development, but there were signs of this coming. According to Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan, Cravens no-showed the Redskins for a day and a half as a rookie before being called in to meet with the team. Cravens may not be fully dedicated to football, whether it’s lacking passion for the game or fear of injuries. This could be what is causing him to mull retirement.

More from Riggo's Rag

Either way, Cravens would join a list of young players who were forced to retire early in recent years due to injuries or concerns about long term health. Chris Borland of the San Francisco 49ers popularized early retirement after calling it quits following a very strong rookie campaign. Cravens could want to follow in Borland’s footsteps due to concerns about his health.

During his NFL career, Cravens has dealt with the knee injury, a concussion, and an elbow injury. These maladies have caused him to miss five regular season contests and most of the past preseason. If Cravens continues to have injury issues, it could continue to discourage him as each individual injury is one that is harder and harder to recover from.

For now, the team officials have quelled Cravens’ concerns and he will not retire. But the team has to be prepared for him to make a knee jerk decision to leave. Thankfully, the team has some young talent at safety including fourth round rookie Montae Nicholson and preseason star Stefan McClure. If they need veteran depth, they can always re-sign Will Blackmon, who was a part of their cut down to 53 just a couple days ago.

The Redskins may need to call upon that depth soon, as it sounds like Cravens is going to need extra time to recover. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo is reporting that Cravens could soon come off the active roster and be added to one of the injury lists. This could give Cravens extra time to get healthy and also contemplate his future a bit more.

Next: Predicting the Redskins practice squad for 2017 season

Right now, this is a very fluid situation. If Cravens were to leave, the Redskins would miss him, but they do have organizational depth at the position. We will continue to monitor all news about Cravens and will provide updates as soon as they become available.

Home/Commanders News