Chargers release veteran safety Darrell Stuckey

ByEric D. Williams ESPN logo
Saturday, August 5, 2017

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Chargers released veteran safety Darrell Stuckey after a failed physical on Sunday.

The Kansas product had been placed on the physically unable to perform list to start training camp last week for a knee injury he suffered on the final game of the regular season last year.

Stuckey, 30, was entering his eighth NFL season, all with the Chargers. However, Stuckey had been mostly a special teams player and was scheduled to make $2.9 million in the final year of his contract.

The Chargers selected two safeties in this year's draft, Miami product Rawshawn Jenkins in the fourth round and Desmond King out of Iowa in the fifth round. The Chargers also signed free-agent Tre' Boston, who's competing with incumbent Dwight Lowery for the starting free safety job.

Stuckey unlikely would have been one of the top four safeties on the depth chart for the Chargers this season. The Chargers selected Stuckey in the fourth round of the 2010 draft out of Kansas. He appeared in 89 games, recording 94 tackles and four fumble recoveries. Stuckey also was a five-time team captain and earned a Pro Bowl invitation in 2015 for his special teams play.

"You couldn't ask for a better person to represent the organization than Darrell," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said in a prepared statement. "We want to sincerely thank him not only for what he has meant to the Chargers, but for what he has meant to the community as a whole."