Through the first couple of months of the offseason, veteran linebacker Akeem Ayers has remained in the open market without any significant interest to join another team. Ayers is coming off his lone campaign with New York Giants, which marked the fifth different team that he has played for his first eight years in the league.
However, the path to earning another contract with another team looks to have gotten more difficult with Ayers being handed suspension for the first four games of the 2018 season, according to Field Yates of ESPN.
Veteran LB Akeem Ayers – who finished 2017 with the Giants – has been suspended for the first four weeks of the season, per league source.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) May 4, 2018
With start of training camp just around the corner in just under two weeks, it is a troublesome time for the 28-year-old to be given a suspension as teams will likely shy away from presenting him an offer given that he will miss the first month of the regular season. He is still eligible to play in the preseason, but that missed time in the season could push teams away from potentially pursuing a deal with him over the summer.
Granted, there will be chances to latch onto teams due to injuries that occur every year because of the nature of the sport. Ayers is coming off a 2017 campaign where he played in just six games with the Giants where he made only three tackles in brief appearance.
He had begun his career as a second-round choice by the Tennessee Titans in the 2011 NFL Draft where he spent the first four years of his career that includes posting career highs with 104 tackles and 6.0 sacks in his second season. Following that stint, he has bounced around the league with four consecutive one-year tenures with the New England Patriots, then-St. Louis Rams, Indianapolis Colts, and Giants.
In total, he has recorded 323 tackles with 15.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and fumble recoveries, and four interceptions in 97 career games.
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