Bengals news: Clint Boling says decision to retire came after discovery of blood clot in leg

Earlier on Monday, Cincinnati Bengals left guard Clint Boling announced that he would be retiring from the NFL after eight seasons.

The move came as a surprise to some around the league, but with more time, more information is coming out, and it seems as Boling’s decision largely centers on a medical discovery he made.

Clint Boling said his decision to retire stemmed from a blood clot in his leg that was discovered a few days after the season and required him to go to the hospital. More on that later, it if it wasn’t for that, he has no doubt he’d be playing this year.

— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) July 15, 2019

According to ESPN’s Katherine Terrell, Boling said that his decision to depart from the NFL was caused by a blood clot in his leg that was discovered after the season. Boling said that the clot was so bad that he needed to go to the hospital for it, and that if it didn’t happen, he would still be playing.

Boling was a fourth-round pick for the Bengals in the 2011 NFL Draft, and a mainstay along their offensive line throughout his career. During his career, Boling started 112 of 114 games that he appeared in, and was a key contributor to the Bengals playoff runs in the early part of the decade.

“After eight years in the NFL, it is time for me to step away from the game due to medical reasons,” said Boling in a statement via the Bengals website. “This is not an easy decision, but it is the right one for me, my wife Kelly and our two young girls. I want to thank the Brown family for giving me the opportunity to play my entire career with the Bengals. I also want to thank my teammates, coaches, fans and everyone who has supported me throughout my career.”

Unfortunately for the Bengals, this retirement comes at a tough time for them. The team will already likely be without their 2019 first-round pick, offensive linemen Jonah Williams, for the season thanks to a torn labrum.

Now, they’ll also have to hope that their depth at offensive line can help mitigate the departure of Boling, which will be no small feat.