When the Saints released tight end Coby Fleener early in May, head coach Sean Payton said that Fleener was still dealing with symptoms from the concussion that ended his 2017 season and nothing has changed over the last month.
Fleener spoke to Don Banks of The Athletic about where things stand and said that he’d still like to play during the 2018 season, but that the symptoms are “still there, unfortunately.” There’s no timetable for that to change and that leaves Fleener, who has been diagnosed with five concussions over the course of his career, unable to say he’ll be back on the field with confidence.
“Ummm. I don’t know,” Fleener said. “That’s a really hard question to answer, because, like I said, if you’d asked me a day or two after it happened, I would have said of course. But now I’m kind of taking it as the cliche’ goes, one day at a time. Tomorrow if I wake up and there are no symptoms, then we approach things differently.”
Fleener’s agent said he’s heard some interest in Fleener’s services pending clearance from the concussion protocol, although it remains anyone’s guess if that’s going to come in time for the 2018 season.
