Packer: Price ponders future after injury

If Caeden Price ever needs an agent, she should look no farther than her father. Because the 8-year-old has a pretty-sweet soccer deal in place right now thanks to former University of Tennessee receiver Peerless Price.

"I pay that girl $100 for every goal she scores, and last weekend she about cleaned me out when she scored five goals in one game," said Peerless Price.

"She's so good in soccer that she owns stock in Build-A-Bear. She's paid for Nintendo's, WII's and every other video game you can think of with her soccer money. I swear she has over 500 Build-A-Bear's. She's got plenty of that girly stuff. Caeden has a pretty good gig for a third-grader."

For nine years, Peerless Price had a pretty good gig in the NFL as a wide receiver. Unfortunately, his career may have come to an end because of a neck injury while playing for the Buffalo Bills.

"Last season I hurt my neck in a game early in the season," said Price. "I caught a ball against the Jets and took a shot. My neck hurt, but I didn't really think too much of it.

"I went to practice Monday and Tuesday and thought it wasn't a big deal. On Wednesday I told the trainers about it. They did an MRI to see to see what was happening. The next day, on Thursday, the trainer told me that the doctor needed to talk to me immediately. I'll never forget walking in and he told me that the football was done for the season. He said it was the worst herniated disc he'd ever seen and that I needed surgery immediately.

"The doctor told me that I needed surgery that day or I would risk being paralyzed. I called my wife and my mom and talked about what to do. I started crying because I had a feeling my career was over. He told me the news at 9 a.m. and by 11 a.m. I was in surgery.

"After the surgery and rehab, the Doctor told me that he would give me the OK to play again, but that if I wasn't in a financial need to play that I should consider retiring.

"Al Wilson retired this week because of the same thing, a neck injury. Everyone I know says that I shouldn't play again, but I'm still working out every day and running routes every morning still wanting to play again.

"I still have a desire to play. I just don't think that I could play 80 to 90 snaps a game like I have for all these years. Financially I don't need to play anymore. We got a call last week from the Browns when Donte Stallworth got hurt. But, I haven't been cleared to play and I just don't know that I'm going to play again. Seattle also called last week, but I will not play that far away from home. If I'm going to be laid up because of football, I want it to happen on this coast."

When I switched the subject to UT, Price beamed with pride.

"I'm the biggest NFL Vol in the NFL," Price said. "I have watched every game for years. Last year I bought the Direct TV Game Plan so that I wouldn't miss any games. However, there were three that weren't a part of the Game Plan so I had to pay $19.99 for those. I don't miss a game."

And, yes, Price was watching the the season-opening loss to UCLA.

"That hurt me bad," Price said. "A former teammate in the NFL was texting me during the whole game. He was laughing at me because we were supposed to win. I'm not going to disrespect UCLA, but we played so bad. We had four interceptions in the first half and only turned them into 14 points. I was expecting us to be 2-0 going into the Florida game."

Price said that UT still makes him proud, but that there is a difference in the level of talent now than when he played there.

"It wasn't that long ago that we were stealing players out of Georgia who would have gone there," he said. "We were stealing players out of Ohio that would have gone to Ohio State. I think losing recruiters like Rodney Garner and Kevin Ramsey was huge. They were great recruiters. Now Garner is keeping most of the in state talent in Georgia and you see what it's done for them. We're not getting the Cosey Colemans and the Jamal Lewises anymore. The Deon Grants are staying in Georgia and it kills me.

"I tell all the people from Georgia that I don't understand it because I never lost to them. We always felt that we had more talent than them when we played them. I know they had Quincy Carter and Champ Bailey, but we had a bunch of guys that were better than them."

Now that it appears his NFL career is over, expect to see Price at a number of Tennessee games in the future. He was at Saturday's game against UAB and plans to be back the following week for Florida.

"I'll also be there for several others this season," Price said. "My wife is from Knoxville, so we have family there to visit. My wife just passed the Georgia State Bar, so I guess it's time for her to start making the money in this house."

Price says he would like a job working in television.

"I have friends who are former players who keep telling me that there's a job for me at ESPN if I want it," Price said

First things first, he's planning to get his audition on the "Locker Room, presented by Parkwest Medical Center" next week.

"Hey, I'll be there," Price said. "Let's call it my first shot at being an analyst. My wife won't have a problem with it. She'll do anything to keep me out of the NFL and the risk of getting hurt again."

Mark Packer hosts the Locker Room, presented by Parkwest Medical Center, on Sunday at 10 p.m. on MyVLT2.