Meadowdale alum Hamlett decides not to pursue an NFL career

Published 5:42 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2015

LYNNWOOD — Having completed his college football career at Oregon State University, it was thought Connor Hamlett would spend the coming months preparing for this spring’s NFL draft.

Instead Hamlett is preparing for life after football.

The 22-year-old Hamlett, a 2010 graduate of Meadowdale High School, went through three minor knee surgeries during and after his junior season at OSU. He then played his final season last fall “at about 80 percent” because of ongoing knee pain and other issues.

Knowing the punishment his knees would endure if he tried to make an NFL roster, let alone if he played professionally for several seasons, Hamlett decided it was better to step away.

“The doctors said I could keep rehabbing and keep playing, but I didn’t think I could get to the level (necessary to play pro football),” Hamlett said. After three arthroscopic surgeries to correct meniscus damage, “my knee just kept swelling up. I guess it never really healed right. It was painful and it was never really getting better.

“To play (in the NFL), you can’t be at 80 percent,” he said. “So after the season I decided it was time to hang it up. I didn’t want to be in pain every day. I felt like it was time to move on and live a normal life.”

It is an unfortunate outcome for Hamlett, a 6-foot-7, 266-pound tight end who started most of the past three seasons at OSU. After his junior season, some analysts projected that he would be a fifth-round NFL draft pick, and perhaps even higher. He also was named to the John Mackey Award watch list, a preseason listing of the nation’s top collegiate tight ends.

“I would’ve been really shocked if he wasn’t drafted,” said John Garrett, Oregon State’s offensive coordinator and tight ends coach last season. “He had a very good chance of making it in the NFL. He has the ability (at tight end) to be both a blocker and a pass catcher … with excellent receiving skills, tremendous hand-eye coordination and excellent concentration on the ball. He made some excellent catches throughout his career.

“Boy, I’m thinking I should call him up and encourage him to give it a shot,” said Garrett, the brother of Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, “because he has a great chance of making a team.”

An MRI early in the 2013 season revealed that Hamlett had meniscus damage in his right knee. He underwent surgery midway through the season, missed a few games, then had a second procedure after the regular-season finale against Oregon. He returned to play in OSU’s late-December bowl game, but then had a minor operation on his left knee following the season.

Even after the corrective surgeries, Hamlett had knee pain and swelling throughout his senior season. It diminished his speed, his ability to plant and abruptly change directions, and to generate power for blocking.

“Some weeks were better than others,” he said. “Some weeks it’d be really sore at the end of the game, but then some weeks it was better. But I wasn’t really having fun because I was in pain and I was worrying about it.”

By late season, Hamlett realized his football career might be winding down. “I was trying not to think about it because I wanted to focus on the games, but it was in my mind,” he said. After talking it over with his family following the season, including older brother Casey Hamlett who played at Washington State, “I knew it was the right decision. I like football, but I also knew I could be successful at other things.”

Though Hamlett admits the prospect of an NFL salary “is definitely tempting” — the league minimum was $420,000 in 2014, and it will be higher this year — “I don’t want to (play) just for the money. My whole thing is that I want to be happy. And I don’t want to be in pain and not loving what I do every day.”

After graduating from OSU in December — a business management major, he had a cumulative 3.3 GPA and was an All-Pacific-12 Conference Academic selection as a senior — Hamlett is back living in his family’s Edmonds home. He spends his days playing pick-up basketball and doing other workouts, and pondering his career options.

“I don’t have any work experience at all because I’ve played sports my whole life,” he said with a grin. “But I’m looking at the career paths I could take. Something with finance probably. I’ve always been good at math and I’ve always loved crunching numbers, so probably something in that field.”

“Whatever he does, whether he pursues something in sports or out of sports, he’s going to be a success,” Garrett said. “He’s a guy you’d hire and know he’s going to do a good job because he’s a special kid.”

Of course, the real test for Hamlett’s decision to leave football will come later this year. Because with the 2015 season beginning, he said, “I’m sure I’ll wish I was still out there playing. I’ll probably miss it quite a bit at first. But I think I’ll get over it. And I’m not going to miss all the injuries and the pain of playing.

“I’m in a good place,” he said. “And I’m at peace with moving on.”