Broncos' Jarvis Moss Could Retire

UPDATE (Tuesday, Aug. 4): Jarvis Moss returned to practice after taking three days off to contemplate his football future.

In 2007, a few months after Mike Tomlin was named the Steelers head coach, the team selected linebacker Lawrence Timmons with the 15th overall pick. The move underwhelmed fans partly because Pittsburgh is perennially in need of offensive linemen, but mostly because Timmons had shown up to his pro day workout out of shape.

But if the Steelers hadn't drafted Timmons, the Broncos would have. In fact, Denver tried to trade up, Pittsburgh balked, and now Timmons is on the verge of becoming Pittsburgh's next great linebacker. And Jarvis Moss, the defensive end from Florida that the Broncos eventually selected 17th overall, is mulling retirement.

It's the latest example that the NFL draft is a crapshoot.

Moss missed the Broncos' Saturday practice and a team source told Fox 31's Josina Anderson that, "... Jarvis went to (Josh) McDaniels and met one on one with the coach and said he does not want to do this anymore. He feels he might be done with football and he's thinking about retirement."

This offseason, FOXSports.com's Alex Marvez reported that the organization was shopping for Moss for a seventh-rounder. Given how poorly the Broncos' defense performed in 2008, that's hardly a ringing endorsement of Moss' potential.

The former Florida star played in just six games as a rookie before landing on injured reserve. And last season, he was inactive four times. Moss earned just one start in 18 career games, and managed 3.5 sacks over that time.

First-year head coach Josh McDaniels told the media that Moss "... was excused for a very personal reason. I am going to respect that and I hope everybody else does, too." Before adding, "He has been excused by myself. Whenever Jarvis is back and gone through that situation, then I am sure he will be here."

This isn't the first time the Broncos have had a young player leave camp to contemplate their NFL future. In 2003, then rookie third-rounder Nick Eason went missing while dealing with personal issues. He later returned to practice and, coincidentally, was part of the 2008 Steelers team that won the Super Bowl.