Jermichael Finley 'working hard' to play again for the Green Bay Packers

Jermichael Finley is "working as hard as (he) can" to play again for the Green Bay Packers, Jason Wilde of 540 ESPN Milwaukee and ESPNWisconsin.com reports. 

Finley has not played in the NFL since the Packers' Oct. 20 game against the Cleveland Browns when he caught a short pass and was hit by Browns safety Tashaun Gipson, and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher. Finley suffered a career-threatening spinal injury, and underwent spinal fusion surgery.

Wilde spoke to Finley on Wednesday, and reported that the tight end "is feeling good and that he still fully intends to resume his football career."

More from ESPN Wisconsin.com:

While Finley didn’t discuss other potential suitors and didn’t say whether the Packers have reached out to him recently, he made it clear that coming back to Green Bay is his preference.

“Tell everybody I'm working as hard as I can to get back to Packer Nation,” he said.

Finley was cleared by Dr. Joseph Maroon, a Pittsburgh-based surgeon who performed a C3/C4 spinal fusion on him in January. He met with the Seattle Seahawks and a "mystery team" this offseason, but failed the Seahawks' physical.

Finley penned a first person account about the incident for MMQB less than two weeks after the collision.

-Sarah Barshop