Promising Raiders tight end Clive Walford hurt in ATV accident

An ATV accident will knock Oakland Raiders tight end Clive Walford out of the team's offseason work, which he could have used as an up-and-coming second-year player.

Walford injured his knee in an accident, Fox Sports first reported. The team is hopeful Walford will be back for training camp, perhaps for the beginning of it, the story said.

According to Adam Caplan of ESPN, the injury happened "a while ago" and involved a "big gash" on one of his knees. It's still just speculation on what exactly the injury is, though it's severe enough that it's keeping him out of action for at least three months.

Although there are plenty of ways to get hurt and you can't always anticipate injury doing recreational things, it's curious why Walford would apparently be on an ATV during such an important offseason for him. As a third-round pick last year he showed a lot of promise and was in line to take a big step in playing time this year. The team even reportedly was considering trading tight end Mychal Rivera earlier this offseason. That never happened, and probably won't now because the Raiders can't be sure when and if Walford will be healthy again this season.

Instead of preparing to take on on a prominent role with a Raiders team that might be on the verge of a breakout, Walford is recuperating from an ATV accident. Doesn't really seem worth it.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab