Wes Welker has said publicly that he wants to continue his NFL career, but former teammate Champ Bailey wouldn’t mind seeing the free agent wideout decide to retire instead, according to an ESPN.com report.
“I don’t want Wes to play for my own personal reasons. I’ve seen him get concussions. It scares me,” Bailey said during an appearance on FOX Sports 1. “I think he can still play, but I don’t want him to play because of these concussions. … This thing is no joke. It’s a serious thing when you start talking about your head. And for him to have to worry about that at a young age that he is now, he has to think about that for years to come, and I just hope he hangs it up and not strap it up again.”
As we wait to see whether Welker can find a job this summer, let’s check in on some other veteran free agents around the league….
- Former Ravens running back Ray Rice and a group of his supporters – including ex-Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano – have been contacting NFL teams in an effort to land Rice a job, sources tell Ed Werder of ESPN.com. According to Werder, one club was seriously considering signing Rice, but team ownership “became uncomfortable” late in the process due to P.R. concerns.
- Veteran linebacker D.J. Williams, who turned 33 on Monday, still hopes to play in 2015, tweets Alex Marvez of FOX Sports. It doesn’t look like Williams will return to the Bears, but he was unsatisfied with the way 2014 ended – he landed on the IR while the Bears plummeted to the NFC North cellar – and would like to catch on with an NFL team in the coming weeks.
- Earlier this afternoon, we learned that the Bears have discussed the possibility of pursuing free agent tight end Jermaine Gresham.