Super Bowl XLIV-winning New Orleans Saints kicker Garrett Hartley received tough news Wednesday: the XFL’s Seattle Dragons waived the 33-year-old, which Hartley explained was due to medical concerns. XFL News Hub’s Konnor Fulk first reported that Hartley would be waived. He recently joined the XFL’s Seattle branch last weekend.
Hartley announced his departure from Seattle on Instagram in an emotional two-minute video. He expressed frustration with the process, saying, “Unfortunately my time in Seattle has been cut short. Even with a world renowned spine surgeon’s backing as well as other experts, the XFL wouldn’t clear me to play.”
He was a long shot to stick in the XFL anyway, having last kicked professionally in the 2015 presesaon with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But a hamstring injury ended his NFL hopes, and it appears a spine issue will keep him out of the XFL. It’s a tough break for someone who has worked hard to get back to this stage, and appeared to get so close before the XFL’s doctors shut that door. It’s puzzling that Hartley’s medicals were cleared for his XFL workout and that he made it so far into the process as to be assigned a uniform before someone pulled the plug.
