The Jaguars’ Branden Albert saga is officially over. The team announced on Friday that he has been released. 
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The Jaguars acquired Albert via trade from the Dolphins earlier this year. The tackle stayed away from the team for much of the offseason as he tried to talk the Jags into revising his contract. When the Jaguars refused to play ball, Albert took his and went home. Days later, Albert flip-flopped and asked to rejoin the team, but the Jaguars responded by placing him on the reserve/retired list, keeping him off the roster.
If Albert is still serious about playing football, he can now sign with any team of his choosing. He might not be able to deliver the kind of Pro Bowl caliber football that he used to, but he would still hold interest for teams with needs on the offensive line.
In 2016, Albert missed one-quarter of the season due to injury and registered a career-worst 42.2 overall score on Pro Football Focus. He’s been well above average in other seasons, however, including his 2013 and 2015 campaigns which resulted in Pro Bowl nods.
Albert was scheduled to earn a non-guaranteed base salary of $8.875MM this season. If he wants to continue playing, he might have to do it at a lower price point. At the same time, he should be able to get some amount of guaranteed cash for the 2017 season.
Quitter ! Wouldn’t want him on my team either….remove the cancer. Props to Jags !
It just sucks that we essentially traded Julius Thomas for him, and now never get to use him in a game.
I’d question Albert’s motives for playing considering what just happened if I was another team interested in signing him.
The more unlikely scenario is that he retired and came back because the Jaguars were going through their hardest week of practice (full pads for 5 straight days, something that isn’t done anymore) and he was just looking to skip that before preseason starts and things start to settle down. If this is true, then you question his commitment and work ethic. The more likely scenario is that once he retired he realized he would have to pay some of his signing bonus back (or whatever bonus money he was getting). This is on top of the fact that he was holding out for a new contract after being traded despite being slated to earn an unguaranteed $17 million over two years and having not played a full season since 2011. So while I am usually with the players when it comes to going for the money (considering the injury risks and usually short careers of football players), Albert’s decision makes you consider if he is more concerned about his money than trying to be a team player.
I don’t get why it can’t be both. They could’ve guaranteed some more of his contract
Why? How many players give money back after a year where they didn’t perform? It’s the reason contracts are negotiated
Bingo…he agreed to the contract and he should have honored it
Dolphins will resign him…
Vikings could use him badly