Auburn football: Former Tigers standout opts out of NFL season

One former Auburn star has added to the growing list of NFL players opting to sit out for the upcoming season.

Shon Coleman has one of the most inspiring stories in all of sports. As a top-100 player in the country and No. 1 recruit in the class of 2010, Coleman was a huge get for Auburn when the Tigers officially signed the big, 6-foot-7 offensive tackle on National Signing Day.

Unfortunately, Coleman was diagnosed with leukemia just a few weeks after he signed with Auburn. Not one to give up on his dreams, Coleman underwent treatment for leukemia which forced him to miss his first two seasons on The Plains.

Eventually, Coleman would beat the disease and began his Auburn career in 2013 as the backup OT to eventual No. 2 pick Greg Robinson. The following year, Coleman got his chance to be the starter and he took the opportunity and ran with it.

Coleman would be the Tigers’ starting left tackle and as a junior in 2015, he would receive second-team All-SEC honors and with his incredible size, he was seen as one of the top offensive tackles in the 2016 draft class.

However, due to his leukemia, Coleman would be entering the NFL at 25 years old and combined with injuries over a previous knee injury, Coleman slipped to the third round where he was selected 76th overall by the Cleveland Browns.

After two seasons with the Browns — including a 2017 campaign where he started all 16 games at right tackle — Coleman was traded to the San Fransisco 49ers prior to the 2018 season.

Coleman didn’t appear in a game for the Niners in 2018 and unfortunately, the former Auburn star suffered an ankle injury in the first preseason game of 2019 which required surgery and forced him to miss the entirety of last season.

That brings us to today where, this week, Coleman decided to opt-out of the 2020 NFL season due to health concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic according to the NFL Network.. As a cancer survivor, Coleman is certainly at an increased risk to contract the disease which could lead to further health complications.

The Niners signed Coleman to a one-year deal back in March but according to Eric Branch of the San Fransisco Chronicle, Coleman will likely be classified as a high-risk opt-out which means he will receive $350,000 this season and his one-year, $825,000 deal will carry over to the 2021 season.

Coleman was expected to compete for the backup job at both tackle positions this season but now, the former Tiger has become the second 49er to opt-out of the season joining wide receiver Travis Benjamin who opted out earlier in the month.

The deadline for players to opt-out of the 2020 NFL season was this Thursday and while teams such as the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams have gone unaffected, 67 total players decide to sit this season out and teams like the New England Patriots have lost as many as eight players. In total, 67 players have chosen to opt-out of the upcoming season.

As for Auburn football, senior linebacker Chandler Wooten decided on Thursday that he would opt out of the 2020 college football season — making him the first Tiger to do so. Wooten, a key defender in Auburn’s linebacker rotation, plans to redshirt this season and return to the team in 2021.