Seahawks waive (injured) DE Avril
— The Sports Xchange —
Defensive end Cliff Avril was waived on Friday by the Seattle Seahawks, with a failed physical designation, the team announced.
Avril sustained a career-threatening neck injury last October, after which Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said pass-rush specialist would have a “hard time playing football again.”
However, Avril told NFL Network’s Steve Wyche in March that he intends to play in 2018, although he admitted that possibility is “up in the air.”
“I just want to do what’s right for me from the standpoint of after football and how that would affect it,” the 32-year-old Avril said on NFL Network’s NFL Up to the Minute. “If the doctor comes back and says, ‘Things aren’t healing right,’ or even if things are healing right (but), ‘One hit could mess you up,’ or whatever, then that’s an easy decision.
“But right now, in my head, I definitely want to start training and doing things like I am going to play.”
Avril finished his Seahawks career with 41 sacks in 64 games, and also will be remembered for pledging to build a new house in Haiti for each sack he made during the 2016 season, when he had 11.5 sacks.
A third-round pick (92nd overall) by the Detroit Lions in 2008, Avril played five seasons with the Lions before signing with the Seahawks in 2013. He has collected 74 sacks in 140 games over 10 seasons and was selected to the 2016 Pro Bowl.
In Super Bowl XLVIII capping the 2013 season, Avril set a Super Bowl record by scoring 12 seconds into the game on a safety after a botched snap by the Denver Broncos.
Later in the game, Avril pressured Denver quarterback Peyton Manning into an interception that was returned 69 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Malcolm Smith in Seattle’s 43-8 victory.
