Cliff Avril on football future: ‘We’ll see what the doc says’

Cliff Avril is at peace with the prospect of never stepping onto a football field again.

After the Seattle Seahawks released the defensive end with a failed physical designation because of a neck injury, he has focused on recovering and figuring out what to do next with his life.

‘The recovery process has been great’

Returning to action is a possibility, but not without clearance from his physician.

“The recovery process has been great,” Avril told Bob Papa and Ed McCaffrey on The Opening Drive. “I’m feeling a lot better, I’m moving around, I’m getting better. But I still have some doctor’s visits that I have to go and see what he thinks. But for the most part, I feel great. We’ll see what the doc says, though.”

‘I’m not really too concerned about where I might end up’

Avril said he has been contacted by “a few” NFL teams to inquire about his availability.

“But for me it’s all about just seeing what the doc says,” Avril said. “I’m not really too concerned about where I might end up or anything like that. I actually just told everybody that I’m going to be working at a radio station, KJR 950 in Seattle. We’ll see how it shakes out, though.

‘I’m OK if I’m not able to play ball’

“I’m definitely ready (to move on if the doctor recommends as much). I’ve had about eight months now to kind of wrap my brain around it. My wife and I, we’ve been talking about it. We talk about it pretty much every other week, just understanding, ‘Hey, if you’re not going to play anymore, what’s next? Start preparing yourself for that.’ And that’s kind of where I’m at right now. I’m OK if I’m not able to play ball. If the doctor tells me, ‘Hey, you should definitely reconsider not playing,’ I’m OK with that at this point of my career.”

Avril sees the Seahawks going through a transition. He knows it won’t be easy. However, he does think they were a much better team than a rash of injuries allowed them to show last season.

‘If there weren’t any injuries, I believe we would have made the playoffs’

“I definitely think they’re going through a transition,” Avril said. “Last year, with injuries and a lot of us were out and we couldn’t play for at least half the season, so a lot of the new guys that they’re bringing up, a lot of these guys got a lot of playing time last year. So they’re definitely revamping everything. I think they believe guys are getting older as well, so older and injuries kind of go hand-in-hand to them. So they’re revamping. They have a lot of work ahead of them, but I do believe (General Manager) John Schneider and Coach (Pete) Carroll, they definitely have the game plan.

“If there weren’t any injuries, I believe we would have made the playoffs. We were off by one, maybe two games. And I think more people would have been excited for the season to come. If everybody just stayed healthy, I think we had another run in us for sure.”