Agent: Jermichael Finley has received clearance from his doctor

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Packers tight end Jermichael Finley finally has gotten some good news.  But it doesn’t mean he’ll soon be joining a new team.  Or rejoining his former team, the Packers.

Finley’s agent, Blake Baratz, said on Thursday’s PFT Live that Finley has received clearance from Dr. Joseph Maroon.  The Pittsburgh neurosurgeon performed the fusion of the C3-C4 vertebrates in Finley’s spine following a spinal cord contusion suffered during the 2013 season.

Finley still has to be cleared medically by the doctors employed by a team interested in signing him.  Baratz said Finley will be making a team visit on Friday; Baratz declined to name the team, citing a request made by the organization for silence.  (Hello, Patriots.)

In March, Finley visited the Seahawks.  The Packers seem to have ongoing interest in a reunion.

Baratz also explained that Finley ultimately must decide whether he wants to play.  With a significant disability policy available if he doesn’t play, Finley may have a Door-Number-1-Door-Number-2-style decision to make regarding the potential financial outcome of not playing and collecting the insurance or playing and getting nothing.

Regardless of whether he chooses to play, Finley finally has taken a major step closer to playing.

37 responses to “Agent: Jermichael Finley has received clearance from his doctor

  1. Clearing Finley for contact? There may be too many O’s in the Dr.s name.

    Did the Packers medical team clear him?

  2. Well, best of luck to him regardless of where he plays, or doesn’t play.

    I do hope that whatever he does, he can walk away from the game when he chooses with no regrets either way.

  3. Gronk + Finley would be scary. Both for the Patriots and their opponents. That would be a lot of money for two injury prone players, but egads that would be a terrific two-some for Tight Ends. Which one of the pro bowl TEs are you going to cover. Back to the days of Gronk and the homicidal maniac.

  4. Packers,

    Do the right thing, stay away from this guy.

    Jermicael,

    There has to be some other purpose in your life besides this. The risk seems a lot higher than the reward on this one. Grab your insurance check and move on.

  5. The real test is the opinion of the doctors for the team he hopes to sign with.

  6. I hope the Seahawks have lost interest…

    Finley was a great player. But those fused vertebrae are a big issue in my book. Walk away Finley and take the insurance. Stay healthy and play with your family.

  7. A part of me wants him resigned, but then I think about the drop after drop by him over the years and it may not be worth it. He had so much potential but never lived up to it. If someone does sign him, I hope he doesn’t risk more injury. Necks are nothing to mess around with.

  8. Just and FYI, Dr. Joseph Maroon is the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, in a way a team doctor has cleared him as I would suspect if the Steelers were interested he would be cleared by them.

  9. That’s good news. But is Dr. Maroon a football doctor?

    Playing in the NFL certainly brings heightened risk.

  10. I stop doing anything the moment “spinal fusion” enters the picture.

  11. This guy got to the level he’s gotten to because “just retire” is not a part of his mindset. We don’t think like they do so there’s no point in trying to understand how he could risk his health even after he’s probably made a lot of money…..that’s why they make the money they do.

  12. if i had bubble wrap throwing me the ball, i’d retire to. too bad Brett Farve isn’t around.

  13. Conceivably, the Pats may have to choose between one TE that’s a physical train wreck (Finley) or another (Dustin Keller). All in order to tandem up with their existing TE that’s a physical train wreck (Gronkowski).

  14. Good luck to finley in whatever he chooses. He’s a headcase, but he’s also a champion. Rob some money from a team, dog it, and be smart with it. You’ll have a good life.

  15. If some team is willing to throw blood money out there for his services, so be it. However, if he gets injured again in the same manner and JMike is disabled or partially disabled, I hope that team rots in hell and is cursed forever. JMike, be smart and enjoy the rest of your life and family. You’ve got a wife and 2 children that need you. Don’t screw it up.

  16. The Pats are unlikely to sign him now after his agent mouthed off. Wouldn’t surprise me if they just outright cancel his visit.

  17. Being cleared and being NFL football cleared are not even in the same zip code. What team ortho physician is going to clear him for NFL action ?
    After all this concussion and pain killer controversies and lawsuits, if I were that doctor, I’d turn and run away as fast as I could. Why open yourself up for a mega $$$$$ lawsuit.

  18. Being cleared by his own doctor and not by the Packers doctors, is like me saying my girlfriend thinks it is OK for me to have an extramarital affair.

  19. To all of those calling for him to retire, he cannot do that and collect on his $10M insurance policy, since that would be a voluntary decision on his part to stop playing. The insurance policy is if he cannot play (no team signs him) again. In fact, with how insurance companies operate, just the fact that his own doctor cleared him may keep the insurance company from paying out, or at least lower the amount they will pay.

  20. Take ‘Door #2’. Don’t push your luck with injuries when you’ve already achieved a lot, and have good options for the future.

  21. I’m glad too see all the doctor’s making their opinions seem some what logical, when in fact we have no idea what the severity of the surgery was!
    Let the the guy go through the steps and let him and all the doctors decide if football is safe enough for him to play.

  22. Ja mike. Don’t do it, you weren’t that good when you were 100%. You dropped a lot of balls, including your own.

  23. A month before the neck injury, Finley sustained a concussion. His 5-year old son told him then, “‘Daddy, I don’t want you to play football anymore.”. Then Finley gets that awful neck injury a month later. That poor little dude, sounds like Finley should heed his son’s advice.

  24. Will the disability insurance policy pay out if a neurosurgeon has cleared him to play? Claims get hung up on those sorts of details.

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