What had been announced for weeks is now official: Kam Chancellor’s career is over. The safety of the Seattle Seahawks announced his career end due to injury via social media.
“I have played with various injuries, and at a high level. But I can’t ignore this injury,” Chancellor said in view of his neck injury last season.
The 30-year-old added: “When the doctors told me in November what was going on, my heart slipped in my pants. The problems with my neck and the pictures I saw led me as a man to one of my worst moments.”
It is also “one thing to voluntarily end one’s career. But it’s another thing to end your career because you’re afraid of paralysis. My final tests showed no cure. I’ve given everything for this game, on and off the court. God has blessed me with this incredible opportunity to show the world the talents He has given me.”
As NFL network insider Ian Rapoport pointed out, it is not an official resignation, but the explanation that he has not received medical clearance to play football again. That’s a big difference, as $6.2 million of Chancellor’s base salary is guaranteed this year and $5.2 million next year.
While Pass-Rusher Cliff Avril was released in Seattle after a serious injury, Chancellor’s career has been hanging by a thread for several months. Head coach Pete Carroll had already stressed in January that Chancellor’s chances of a comeback were not too good.
Nevertheless, Seahawks boss John Schneider always emphasized: “A certain amount of resetting takes place every year. It never stops. When I talk about a “reset,” people say, “Actually, it’s a rebuild.” But we’re not in the rebuild. It’s just a reset.”
With Chancellor and Avril forced to say goodbye and Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett, however, it is now indisputable that Seattle is at least undergoing a defensive upheaval. The future of Safety Earl Thomas has also been discussed again and again, but for the time being everything points to a stay in Seattle – at least for 2018.