Linebacker Zach Orr retired from football in January due to a congenital spinal condition. Surprisingly, the former Ravens standout says that he is now thinking about a return to football. 
“I had my mind made up. I was like man, the doctors told me I was done,” Orr said on NFL Network Wednesday morning. “This is a serious issue. So I’m going to leave it alone. But I just kept hearing that from multiple people and some were telling me to just go check out and seek out some more opinions and things like that and come to find out my condition, it is rare — .01 percent of the people have what I have — but there’s no actual evidence or facts that I’m at a higher risk than any other player. And it’s actually been documented that a college player who had the exact same thing that I have that returned to play with no problems.”
The Ravens had the option of controlling Orr through 2017, but they did not use the restricted free agent tender on him before the window expired. The 25-year-old is now a free agent and he could be an interesting option for teams if he is in fact healthy enough to play.
People from the Ravens organization have been in touch with Orr, Albert Breer of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. They love him as a player and as a person, but they seriously doubt their doctors would pass him on a physical. It’s possible that other teams will have similar reservations about Orr, despite his optimism about playing.
Orr’s condition, which affects less than 1% of people, was thought to be serious enough to end his career. Initially, doctors told Orr that he was at risk of death or paralysis by playing with the condition. However, other doctors have since given him the green light to play. Those experts said their only concern would be if Orr played with herniated discs. Fortunately, the herniated discs he suffered last season have corrected themselves.
The former undrafted free agent became a starter for the first time in his career in 2016. As the replacement for Daryl Smith, Orr appeared in 15 games and played the most defensive snaps of any Baltimore ‘backer. All in all, Orr recorded 89 tackles, three interceptions, and five passes defensed.
He’s exactly what the Oakland Raiders need at linebacker. All of that aside I wish him well and good health no matter his future holds
I was thinking the same thing. I just wish they found this out earlier and the Pats could have gotten him instead of Harris(Harris is still a good player but he is just much older) but if I had to guess I would think he would end up back on the Ravins