He doesn’t need the money. I saw an interview with him. He says he’s financially set and that his body just hurts. It hurts all the time during the season and it takes longer and longer for things to heal. Good for him. I think you’ll see this being the norm now for players who have the smarts to save their money. Much less CTE risk, much less degenerative issues as they age. For those who don’t need the money to survive, this will be a common occurence for the league.
As a Lions fan, I’ll miss him, but he’s making the right decision for himself and his family.
My advice I would give to any player going to the NFL is that no matter how good you are, get out before you reach 30, with the only exception being if you’re someone like Tom Brady. For most players the amount of money they make should be enough to live comfortably on for the rest of their lives, if they save it wisely.
The likes of Fox Sports, NBC Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN are all waving money at him to be their NFL analyst right now.
NFL players saw what happened to Junior Sway after he played football too long.