Karl Malone's son retires from NFL before playing a single snap
K.J. Malone, the son of NBA legend Karl Malone, went to the Houston Texans rookie minicamp with high hopes of making the team.
But due to a nagging knee injury suffered while he played left tackle at LSU last season, Malone realized that he won’t be able to make a go of it in the NFL.
So Malone announced Monday that he was retiring to focus on a career in law enforcement, and the Texans placed him on the reserve/retired list.
— KJ Malone (@KarlMalonejr63) May 14, 2018
“Thank you to the Houston Texans for an incredible opportunity. Due to my previous knee injury during my career at LSU, I have not been able to recover and decided it was best to step away from the game of football and take time to heal,” Malone said.
The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Malone suffered a knee injury last season at LSU in the sixth game, which forced him to miss the last half of the season.
Malone wasn’t selected in the 2018 NFL draft but signed with the Texans as an undrafted free agent. Going into this past weekend’s rookie minicamp, Malone said he was looking forward to proving himself and that, six months removed from the injury, he was healthy.
“It’s been everything I thought it was,” Malone said via HoustonTexans.com last week. “Just learning from the coaches here and can’t wait to see the vets on Monday and learn from them.”
‘Nuff said..let’s go @HoustonTexans! @Kj63Kj pic.twitter.com/VjfujPGeK3
— Karl Malone (@TheDeliverer_32) April 29, 2018
Texans coach Bill O’Brien had been impressed with Malone.
“Just met K.J. when he got here,” O’Brien said Saturday, according to the Texans website. “Good guy, pays attention in meetings, which is important, and I think the big thing for him is going to be health. Can he stay healthy? Can he do what is necessary? I tell these guys on the first night: availability equals dependability.”
Malone made the determination that the knee was just not healthy enough to play at this time.
According to this, KJ Malone decided to retire from football: https://t.co/x0xRtErFwu
Not that shocking. Remember, he's had his sights set on a career in law enforcement for a while.#LSU https://t.co/RmrwcbmJ88
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 14, 2018
“Thank you everyone for all your support,” he tweeted.
His decision to go into law enforcement doesn’t come as a shock to many LSU fans as Malone considered not playing his senior season for the Tigers to begin to pursue a career as a U.S. marshal, according to Ross Dellenger at the New Orleans Advocate.
Best of luck to Malone is his new career.
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