The new NFL superstar career

erod said:

It's increasing rapidly.

The big contracts are ensuring that it will.

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Aerolithe_Lion said:

Robert Smith retired at 28, the last game he played in was the pro bowl.

Jim Brown retired at 29.

Drew Pearson was done at 32. YOUNGER than Joe Thomas was his final year... A guy you’re using to show how soft current players are. You must have hated Pearson with a passion.

Bob Hayes was Joe Thomas’s age. So was Mike Ditka.

Bet you didn’t know Dick Butkus quit at 31, less than a year older than Calvin Johnson, did you?

We could go on and on and on. Nothing has changed, except you’re now at the forefront of outrage culture.

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erod said:

Joe Thomas

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From The Thomahawk Show…

“As a competitor, you always think that you can do it, but there’s a point in your career … that you get to that crossroad and say, ‘I just can’t do it anymore. I just don’t have it in my body. My mind is good, but my body is not willing.’ And I think that’s where I am.

“I’ve had a number of injuries throughout my career. Obviously, I’ve only had one that has kept me from missing time, but those injuries that you have throughout your career, they add up. Like, I’ve had, during my NFL career, two knee scopes. I had an ACL surgery when I was in college. I had another knee scope when I was in college. So I’ve had four knee surgeries in my career, obviously the elbow surgery, countless ligament tears, muscle tears, arthritis in just about every joint in my body, and you just get to that point where you can’t do it anymore.

“I remember a time during the season last year, where I was standing in front of the media at the podium — this was before I got hurt — and I had Mobic, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory, in my body, I had Tylenol and Vicodin, and I couldn’t stand for more than a minute or two without excruciating bone pain in my knee and my back. It was almost at that point where I was saying to myself, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the rest of this season.’ Now luckily my elbow snapped before anything happened with the rest of my body, but you just start thinking in you head, like I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

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408Cowboy said:

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erod said:

First off, that $11 million quickly becomes $6 million due to taxes. (Players even have to pay higher taxes for games in New York or California.)

Also, players by nature have to live a more expensive lifestyle. Emmitt can't just live in your random town home in Dallas and find any peace. Life is more expensive.

So, he retires with $5 million tops. I know hundreds and hundreds of everyday people who have that. And Emmit's only 31 with no job.

So that $5 million spread over the next 50 years is $100,000 per year. Property taxes alone on his house are $30 million a year. Better not live in a nice area on that.

Conversely, Zeke is going to make more this one season than Emmitt did his entire career. Zeke should retire with more than $50 million in his account. He's about to be set for life in six days at the age of 24.

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erod said:

He didn't nail anything.

He went in the way-way-back machine when players were making $20,000 a year and had to work all offseason. NFL players made much LESS than most college graduates back then.

The NFL wasn't nearly as popular in those days.

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erod said:

Quarterbacks are the exception. So are left tackles.

At other positions, rarely do those contracts play out well for the team. Many players get soft, disinterested, or just weird in a hurry when that wallet gets really fat.

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408Cowboy said:

Let's keep it simple. Get out while you still have your mental faculties in order and healthy enough to hopefully live a long fulfilled life. Or keep playing after accumulating multiple injuries not knowing if the next makes that life impossible because the fans don't agree or care about your life. Which choice would you make?

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SDCowboy said:

I don't blame them. As soon as I had enough money to never have to work again, I'd retire that season, too.

And yeah, the huge contracts today are a big part of it. It's no longer a career, but a payday. Why play the game one second longer than you have to?

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OmerV said:

That's supply and demand - teams are willing to take bigger risks on because there is a shortage of capable people to man those positions.

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cern said:

most of the players initially named had sustained many injuries over their careers. by the time they're 40, certain body joints are 60. Charlie waters used to talk about how he would just fall down sometimes due to knee problems. this isn't just about money, it's about the physical pounding these guys take year after year.

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SDCowboy said:

I don't blame them. As soon as I had enough money to never have to work again, I'd retire that season, too.

And yeah, the huge contracts today are a big part of it. It's no longer a career, but a payday. Why play the game one second longer than you have to?

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MarcusRock said:

Anti-big money "outrage" sells better though.

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erod said:

There's much less life-long injury risk to quarterbacks. They aren't banging heads every play, especially today when you can't touch them anywhere near their head.

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McKDaddy said:

In fairness though, there is a very real "quality of life" aspect that a lot of previous generations didn't have facts about. Now players have seen or have first hand knowledge of countless stories of guys barely being able to walk by mid life (just one example).

I can understand a player having to ask himself the question of continuing each offseason and certainly if they have achieved some level of success (both performance & financial), I can see it being more difficult to justify continuing.

I certainly have no issue with Andrew Luck's decision. At some point, the ultimate question is can i put everything i have into it? If the answer is no, you have to step off the bus.

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erod said:

'Twas a time when NFL players were about playing until they couldn't play anymore. Rack enough enough money, stats, and years in the league to plant their flag firmly in the league's history.

Not anymore. Today, the typical NFL career consists of two parts.

First, get drafted as highly as possible and play their tails off to create as much value and leverage as they can. Then, get that first massive payday, and BOOM, they're set for life already. Just play out that string in virtual cruise control until the bonus is covered, and it's off into the sunset.

Doug Baldwin. Joe Thomas. Calvin Johnson. Chris Borland. Even Andrew Luck recently. Rumors are that JJ Watt is about to hang it up. Jaylon Smith seems to already be looking forward to his post-career business interests. It's going viral.

That's the new and increasing goal of a very high percentage of players. Play for 6-7 years, and get out rich and healthy. It's not about success or records or accomplishment anymore. It's about the biggest pile of money as soon as possible, and finding an exit door.

So, should teams start to think twice about these big contracts? The Rams regret the Gurley deal. The Cardinals are getting little return out of the David Johnson deal. The league is full of heavy contracts that didn't pan out well for teams that wish they had a do-over.

So why pay anybody unless it's a quarterback? If some players are locking it down after they get that big signing bonus, then why owners commit to big contracts going forward?

If this trend continues, it could hurt players in the future. Teams may become much more gun-shy about these types of deals, and choose to just draft and release players at the end of their rookie deals as a policy. That means less money for players after that initial deal if teams are balking at big veteran contracts in the future.

How would Amari Cooper handle a massive pile of money? How will Zeke handle it? Jaylon and Leighton Vander Esch? Will Lawrence play with the same abandon now that he's rolling in dough?

Have these massive contracts killed the drive and desire for players in such a physically taxing game?

The days of the NFL lifers may be coming to an end. Records set by Emmitt, Rice, Strahan.....those are probably safe forever as players choose to play half as long as the greats did.

The new NFL career is upon us.

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xwalker said:

The Rams have not said they regret the Gurley contract.

Gurley's contract is about 15M per season. They could have gotten out of it after 1 year for a 6M penalty; however, they kept him and in March about 19M more money became guaranteed.

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