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Arizona Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall, who is set to become a free agent an March 11, is at the end of a journey.
He is a writer in addition to being a football player and blogs for the Huffington Post from time to time.
On Tuesday, he made some waves with his most recent blog post for the site, named "The Vision," which hinted at some change coming in his life and/or career.
He writes about a vision he saw that represented the journey he was to take following his knee injury in January 2012. It has been two years since the injury. He played a partial season in 2012 for the Steelers and then signed a contract last offseason to join the Cardinals. He was bothered by a toe injury for part of the year, but ended with 687 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.
His future with Arizona is uncertain. He is not under contract for 2014 and the team already has Andre Ellington and Stepfan Taylor, who seem right now to be the two that will carry the offensive load this coming season.
Mike Jurecki tweeted on Tuesday that there is a possibility for his return to the Cardinals, but the end of Mendy's blog post has people questioning whether he will play in the NFL anymore.
He writes:
"That day I sat on my couch two years ago was the very next day after I tore my ACL in week 17. The journey I envisioned is the two years of rebuilding that would follow. And as I write this, today is the day that the journey is over and I am fully at peace. Eagerly looking to a new way, which lies ahead."
Is his NFL career the journey? Is he retiring? Is he saying that he is 100 percent over the recovery of his knee injury? He wouldn't be the first running back to retire young. Barry Sanders left too soon. Robert Smith retired early.
It makes you wonder.
Most would believe that, regardless of his decision to continue in the NFL, his time in Arizona was probably over.
Will we see him in an NFL uniform again in 2014? It wouldn't surprise me either way.
