Orchard Park, N.Y. -- Months after his retirement press conference was botched, Eric Wood will be released by the Buffalo Bills.
John Wawrow of the Associated Press was the first to report the news.
The Bills are releasing Wood with a pre-June 1 designation, which means all of his unpaid bonus money immediately hits the cap for this season. Wood will count for more than $10 million against the cap this season.
Back in late January, the Bills scheduled a retirement press conference for Wood, who discovered a career-ending neck injury at his season-ending physical. He arrived 56 minutes later than the scheduled start time because he was concerned about the Bills' ability to go after his bonus money. Instead of a press conference, Wood read the following statement:
"Sorry for the delay. Thank you to everyone who came out today. This press conference was set up a couple of weeks ago, in light of me finding out about the injury an hour before my son Garrett was born. As many of you already know given the leak on Friday, Dr. Cappuccino has informed me I will no longer be able to play football given the neck injury. Even with further treatment, rehab or surgery, a return is not possible. In Week 5 I got the first stinger of my life, and I got one the following week. After that game, we did an X-ray on my neck that showed no significant damage. After the season, as part of the exit physical, we got an MRI that revealed a disc that was dangerously close to my spinal cord at C2, C3. That was alarming.
"As you can imagine this news floored me as I was merely days away from the first playoff game of my career. Although I will no longer be cleared to play football, I am still on the Bills' roster and look forward to helping out the team in some capacity. Thanks to everyone who supported me throughout my career. Because of that, I am here today. I'm sure there are a lot of unanswered questions, and I hope to address those at a later date. Thanks, and go Bills."
Wood is scheduled to appear to Jim Kelly's golf tournament next week and may get a chance to touch on his retirement more then. For now, the Bills are left to eat an uncomfortable salary cap figure. Wood spent nine seasons with the Bills.