The free agent market for guards continues to thin out. After we heard earlier today that former Falcon Justin Blalock had decided to retire, Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reports (via Twitter) that another unsigned guard, Mike Pollak, is also calling it a career.
While Pollak doesn’t have quite the NFL résumé that Blalock does, he saw plenty of time as a starter during his NFL career. The 30-year-old began his career in 2008 with the Colts before joining the Panthers briefly and then landing in Cincinnati.
In two years with the Bengals, he appeared in 22 games, starting 11 of them. The former second-round pick spent time at both left guard and right guard for the team in 2014, but the Bengals ultimately finished the season with Kevin Zeitler on the right side and Clint Boling on the left, oping to release Pollak back in February.
Like Blalock, Pollak will end his NFL career after a season in which his performance was still reasonably solid — according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he was an above-average pass blocker and run blocker in 2014, finishing with a +4.6 grade in 456 offensive snaps.