Chris Cooley 'begging' for another shot at the NFL

Chris Cooley is determined to make an NFL comeback.

The tight end-turned-radio host said on ESPN 980 on Monday that he approached the Washington Redskins, with whom he spent his entire nine-year career, about returning to the team on a veteran minimum contract with no bonuses or incentives.

Cooley also offered to forgo the money he would be entitled to if he ended up on injured reserve or was cut after Week 1, and said he would give up his roster spot midseason if needed.

"And it hurts to beg," Cooley said, according to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post. "I'm literally begging."

But the Redskins aren't biting – at least not yet.

"I'm not going there," general manager Scot McCloughan told reporters when asked recently about the possibility of signing Cooley. "Chris Cooley, he was a really good Redskin. He's part of the Redskins still. I'm not going there."

Cooley said his offer is for the Redskins only. He called it a "strike of faith" that the team lost tight ends Niles Paul and Logan Paulsen to season-ending injuries just weeks after he first floated the idea of a comeback.

The Arizona Cardinals reportedly expressed interest in signing Cooley in July, so it's possible there are other teams out there willing to take a shot on a 33-year-old who has been out of the league for two years. Cooley is still holding out hope that Washington will come calling, though.

"My feelings aren't going to be hurt either way. I'm not going to be crushed either way," he said. "I'm going to play somewhere, and it's going to work out one way or another, because I will push it until I can't.

"And I never act this way in life. … I will make every call in the world, I will force every tryout, I will do anything I can possibly do. So the Redskins have an opportunity now via this agreement. This is what they have from me."