Linebacker Sergio Kindle has been cleared to play for the Baltimore Ravens after missing all of last season with a head injury, but his agent, Joel Segal, isn't expecting a long-term contract just yet.
"No, I don't think we'll do long-term right now," Segal told WJZ-FM, according to the Ravens' official website. "Once Sergio shows he's the Sergio Kindle who was the special player at Texas, that he's healthy, that he's ready to roll, the difference-maker that we know he will be if he's healthy, I think at that point, hopefully, we'll have a conversation."
"Serg was obviously on a small contract (a one-year deal last season) and, hopefully, once he's healthy and ready to go, it will be a contract we expect. ... He has been working out hard, he's obviously extra hungry. He's focused, ready. You know, now he's just got to get some contact and show everybody that he's the old Sergio Kindle."
A second-round pick of the Ravens in the 2010 NFL Draft, Kindle was at a house party last summer when he fell down two flights of stairs, fracturing his skull.
The injury led to concerns that Kindle's career might be in jeopardy. The skull fracture and subsequent brain bruising led to permanent damage to his equilibrium. Kindle has very little hearing in his left ear, which doctors don't expect to change. He describes the year forced out of football as very difficult.
Kindle told the San Antonio Express-News earlier this month that he has been cleared for football activities. He admits, however, that the true test of his progress will come when he takes part in physical contact drills. The lockout hasn't allowed that yet.
