Branden Albert Changes His Mind About Retirement, Will Report To Jaguars

Update:

Ian Rapoport isn’t sure the Jaguars will take veteran LT Branden Albert back after he made the decision to retire last week.

• Mike Garafolo points out that if the Jaguars release Albert, they can’t recoup the bonus and could lose the pick they traded Miami.
• Garafolo says that this could instead lead to a standoff between the two parties.

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Adam Caplan is reporting that veteran LT Branden Albert has changed his mind about retirement and now plans to report to the Jaguars in the coming days.

• Mike Garafolo confirms the news, but adds that there “lots of moving parts” here.
• Albert reported met with the Jaguars this past weekend, but did not travel with the team to New England for workouts against the Patriots, according to Garafolo.

Albert made the surprising decision to retire a few weeks ago after he held out of offseason workouts. One speculative reason for Albert returning could be the fact that he would owe the Jaguars $3.4 million of his signing bonus if he retired.

Albert, 32, is a former first-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2008. He spent six years in Kansas City before signing a five-year, $46 million contract with $25 million guaranteed with the Dolphins back in 2014.

Albert had two years remaining on his contract and stands to make base salaries of $8.875 million and $9.575 million during this time.

Jacksonville agreed to send a 2018 seventh-round pick to the Dolphins in return for Albert and the two teams also completed a separate trade for TE Julius Thomas soon after.

In 2016, Albert appeared in 12 games and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 65 offensive tackle out of 78 qualifying players.