Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said Wednesday that the 2013 season will definitely be his last as an active player in the NFL.
“Without a doubt, yes. Without question,” Gonzalez said in an interview on The NFL Network. “I told everybody I was going to retire last year, and I really meant that when I was saying that last year.”
But Gonzalez had a change of heart and decided to play one more season. Hence, he’ll be back in the Falcons’ training camp next week.
Interestingly, it was his 12-year-old son Nico who swayed the veteran player to come back for one more season.
“[Nico] said, ‘You know what, Dad, you guys have a great team. I think you should go out and try it one more time.’ And after he said that, with everything that fell into place, with the type of team we’re going to have … it was kind of a no-brainer.”
—The Detroit Lions announced Wednesday that they have released 2010 first-round pick Jahvid Best.
Best, a running back who appeared in 22 NFL games but none since October 2011, has been hampered by several concussions. And while he had great talent, the concussions cut into his ability to perform both consistently and at the kind of level the Lions sought from him.
Best’s release is not a complete surprise given that the team signed veteran running back Reggie Bush during the offseason as somewhat of an insurance policy in the event Best did not get clearance to return to the team from his concussion issues.
—Tampa Bay Buccaneers place-kicker Connor Barth suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon playing in a charity basketball game last Friday that will sideline him for the 2013 season, the team announced Wednesday.
To replace him on the roster, the Bucs signed former New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, a 35-year-old free agent who made 33 of 39 field goal attempts and was second in the NFL with 145 points last season .
The Buccaneers placed Barth, 27, on the reserve/non-football injury list rather than on injured reserve.
The Giants said so long to the veteran Tynes in March after six seasons when they signed 34-year-old veteran Josh Brown, a former Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams kicker who played in four games for the Cincinnati Bengals last season.
—Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson is running at full speed and expects to be 100 percent when the team begins training camp next week.
Richardson missed all of the team’s June minicamp and the final week of organized team activities with a strained muscle in his right shin. Last year, Richardson dealt with a knee injury during training camp and missed all of the Browns’ preseason games.
“I’ll be full-go right from the get-go and y’all out there will see me flying around,” he said. “I can’t wait to get out there and I can’t wait for the first game. I’ve been waiting forever for this season and I know it’s going to be a good one for us.”
Despite knee and rib injuries last season that limited his conditioning and agility, Richardson still managed to rush for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.
—Former NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper lost a south Florida home through foreclosure, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
SunTrust Bank dropped s lawsuit against Culpepper this month after the 10,000-square foot home was surrendered in April. Culpepper purchased the house for $3.6 million in April 2006 after he signed with the Miami Dolphins.
The bank listed Culpepper with $3 million in debts in court documents.
Culpepper played for the Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions in the NFL. He closed out his playing career with Sacramento in the United Football League in 2010.
—Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing has recovered sufficiently from a knee injury to receive medical clearance to participate in training camp beginning next week, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.
Cushing, 26, suffered a season-ending ACL tear in early October on a hit by former New York Mets guard Matt Slauson. Slauson was later fined for an illegal block.
His loss was a blow to the Texans defense. The injury limited him to five games, 29 tackles and one interception last year. In two of the previous three seasons, Cushing had 134 and 114 tackles and six interceptions.