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FRED JEWELL/Associated Press
Barry Sanders was one of the greatest running backs ever. He and Jim Brown are the only two tailbacks in NFL history to average at least five yards per carry on 2,300-plus career rushes.
Sanders is also known for the manner in which his career ended. In 1999, coming off yet another outstanding season, he floored the NFL by announcing his retirement.
Sanders' abrupt decision to retire was shocking, but it wasn't unprecedented.
Throughout NFL history, stars have walked away from the game in their prime. Injuries forced some out. Others were concerned about their long-term health or wanted to pursue other opportunities.
In at least one case, it was a bit of both. Only days after deciding to retire, an all-time talent suffered a career-ending injury.
Whatever the cause, some players' careers ended far earlier than fans wanted. Here are the most notable examples throughout NFL history.
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TOM PIDGEON/Associated Press
In the summer of 1999, Barry Sanders was still one of the NFL's most dangerous tailbacks.
Although he snapped his four-year streak of seasons with 1,500-plus rushing yards (including a 2,000-yard campaign in 1997), he came up nine yards short of that lofty mark in 1998. He also sat 1,457 yards behind Walter Payton's (then) all-time rushing record of 16,726 rushing yards.
But on a late July afternoon, Sanders sent a fax to the Wichita Eagle (via the Oklahoman) announcing his retirement:
"Shortly after the end of last season, I felt that I probably would not return for the 1999-2000 season.
I also felt that I should take as much time as possible to sort through my feelings and make sure that my feelings were backed with conviction. Today, I officially declare my departure from the NFL.
"The reason I am retiring is simple: My desire to exit the game is greater than my desire to remain in it. I have searched my heart through and through and feel comfortable with this decision."
On the cusp of becoming the most prolific rusher in NFL history, Sanders walked away. As he said in a 2012 documentary (h/t Houston Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times), the record didn't matter all that much to him.
"I understood full well who Walter Payton was, what he accomplished," Sanders said. "Not just Walter Payton, with all the guys that had tried to do what Walter did. The record for me wasn't important enough to force myself to stay around to try to get the record."
Sanders' first-ballot induction into the Hall of Fame in 2004 was a reminder that while the 1997 NFL MVP didn't catch Payton, he still accomplished plenty.
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Anonymous/Associated Press
In his nine NFL seasons, Jim Brown won the rushing title eight times and MVP three times, including his final season in 1965. That year, he rushed for 1,544 yards and 17 touchdowns in 14 games.
Brown was also an aspiring actor, and as training camp neared in 1966, he was in London filming The Dirty Dozen. When production was delayed, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell made it clear that Brown's absence would not be excused. He began fining Brown $100 for every day he was late, according to Ryan Cortes of The Undefeated.
Brown retaliated with a statement of his own. First, he penned a letter to Modell that began (via Cortes):
"I am writing to inform you that in the next few days I will be announcing my retirement from football. This decision is final and is made only because of the future that I desire for myself, my family and, if not to sound corny, my race.
I am very sorry that I did not have the information to give you at some earlier date, for one of my great concerns was to try in every way to work things out so that I could play an additional year."
In 2015, he told Tim Layden of The MMQB what he thought about Modell's fines:
"You want the real story? I had no bargaining power. But the only thing the Browns had over me was that if I wanted to keep playing football, I had to play for the Browns. But they couldn't tell me I had to play football. Art was going to fine me for every day I stayed on the movie set? I said, 'Art, what are you talking about? You can't fine me if I don't show up. S--t, I'm gone now. You opened the door.'"
When Brown retired at the age of 30, he led the NFL in career rushing yards, single-season rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns.
The Browns haven't won a championship since.
3 of 10
Rick Osentoski/Associated Press
Over his nine NFL seasons, Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson topped 1,000 yards seven times, caught 12 or more touchdowns four times, averaged more than 86 yards per game and was named a Pro Bowler six times.
But in March 2016, the 30-year-old suddenly retired.
"After much prayer, thought and discussion with loved ones, I have made the difficult decision to retire from the Lions and pro football," Johnson said in a statement (via the Atlanta Journal Constitution). "I have played my last game of football."
While speaking to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press a few months later, Johnson said he wasn't up for the wear-and-tear on his body anymore.
"My finger's jacked," Johnson said. "I mean, I'm beat up. After you play that long, you're going to be beat up, so it's just a time where you are content with what you did, and I'm content with what I did so far."
Just like with Barry Sanders, the Lions demanded Johnson repay of some of the signing bonus from the contract extension he signed in 2012. And just like it did with Sanders for many years, that created a frosty relationship between Johnson and the Lions.
Per Birkett, Johnson has made it clear what it will take to mend fences.
"They already know what they got to do," Johnson said. "The only way they're going to get me back is they put that money back in my pocket. Nah, you don't do that. I don't care what they say. They can put it back, then they can have me back. That's the bottom line."
If Johnson suited up today, he'd still be one of the NFL's 10 best receivers.
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JIM MONE/Associated Press
Over his first four years in the league, Minnesota Vikings tailback Robert Smith never had more than 700 rushing yards in a season. The second four were a much different story.
In 1997, Smith exploded for 1,266 yards on the ground and 5.5 yards per carry. It marked the first of four straight 1,000-yard seasons that culminated in 2000, when Smith led the NFC with 1,521 rushing yards and again gained more than five yards per carry.
At the age of 28, he appeared to be both in his prime as a runner and arguably the best running back in the NFC if not the entire NFL.
But after his eighth season, he announced his retirement in a "brief statement" in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN).
Smith's agent told the AP that the two-time Pro Bowler "could easily play five more years without jeopardizing his health," but Smith wasn't so sure. Multiple surgeries were a big factor in his decision to quit football before his 30th birthday, as he told ESPN's Kevin Seifert in 2015.
"I've got a five-year-old and a three-year-old, and I can run with them and chase them without a problem," Smith told Seifert. "That's what I wanted to be able to do. It has been a blessing to have good health."
Life after football has had its bumps and bruises as well. Smith has been upfront in recent years about his alcohol addiction. But he's also carved out an accomplished and successful career as a broadcaster.
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
In his NFL debut, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis piled up 11 total tackles and a forced fumble.
By the end of his rookie season, the 11th overall pick from the 2007 draft had amassed a league-high 174 tackles, was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year and earned both Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors.
Over the first seven seasons of his career, Willis topped 100 tackles six times and hit the 120-tackle mark five times. He was named a Pro Bowler each of those years and a first-team All-Pro five times.
Willis missed only six games across his first seven seasons, but a toe injury caused him to miss 10 in 2014. There was no reason to believe the 30-year-old wouldn't rebound the following year, however.
That is, until he stunned the league by announcing his retirement in March 2015.
Last year, Willis told the 49ers Insider Podcast (h/t Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area) that he has no regrets about walking away from the game while he was still relatively healthy.
"For me, I felt like it was the perfect time—my body, everything. The stars aligned for me.
I never set out to play this game for anyone else's expectations or what they thought I should do and how I should do it. I believed in myself before anyone else saw it. I never put that in anybody else's hands. So for me, it was the right time."
Willis wasn't the only surprise retirement that rocked the Niners that year, A week later, promising young linebacker Chris Borland announced his retirement after one season, citing concerns about head trauma.
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Tom Mihalek/Associated Press
For a good portion of his NFL career, Tiki Barber was known more for fumbling and being a twin than for being a high-end tailback.
Barber gained only 250 rushing yards over his first three seasons combined. From 2000 to 2003, he gained 1,000 rushing yards in a season three times, but he also had a staggering 35 fumbles.
In 2004, the New York Giants hired a new head coach in Tom Coughlin, who threatened to bench Barber if he didn't stop fumbling.
Sure enough, Barber started toting the rock differently and took off like a rocket.
From 2004 to 2006, Barber peeled off three straight seasons with more than 1,500 rushing yards, including an 1,860-yard campaign in 2005. He topped 2,000 total yards in all three of those seasons and made three straight Pro Bowls.
But by October 2006, Barber had already made it clear that season would be his last. He told the Talk of Fame Network in 2018 that an early-season game against the rival Eagles sealed the deal.
"To put it into clarity, my first game against Philadelphia (in) my last season, we played at Philly. It was at the new 'Linc' (Lincoln Financial Field), I got the crap beat out of me by Jeremiah Trotter, and I walked out that game saying, 'I'm done.'
"It was like the second or third week of the season (it was the second), and I knew I was done because I didn't feel anything anymore. And I didn't want to do it anymore. I told my fullback, 'Finny' (Jim Finn), and he was like, 'What the hell are you talking about?' I said, 'Finny,' I just don't feel it anymore.
Don't get me wrong. I'm going to have a fantastic season, but I'm done.'"
Barber's timing wasn't ideal. In his first year of retirement, the Giants shocked the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. His broadcasting career fizzled quickly, and his comeback attempt in 2011 never got off the ground.
The Giants won the Super Bowl that year as well, which feels like rubbing it in.
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Anonymous/Associated Press
Earl Campbell barreled his way into the NFL the same way he plowed into the line of scrimmage: so hard that folks didn't know what hit them.
The first overall pick in the 1978 draft led the NFL with 1,450 rushing yards as a rookie and was named both the Offensive Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. The following season, Campbell gained 1,697 yards and won both OPOY and Most Valuable Player. In 1980, Campbell led the league in rushing and was named OPOY again—this time with a jaw-dropping 1,934 yards on the ground.
However, Campbell's hard-charging running style took its toll. After topping 1,300 rushing yards in 1981, Campbell missed almost half the 1982 season. He rebounded with 1,301 rushing yards in 1983, but after he averaged fewer than three yards per carry over the first six games of the 1983 season, the Houston Oilers traded him to the New Orleans Saints.
Mired in a timeshare with Wayne Wilson, Campbell averaged a respectable 4.1 yards per carry in 1985. But by August 1986, the 31-year-old had had enough.
"I'm a man; I'm not a little boy," Campbell said, via the Los Angeles Times. "I believe this is the best thing—not only for myself, but for the Saints."
Failing to reach 10,000 career rushing yards didn't keep Campbell from being inducted into the Hall of Fame. And given the physical problems that have dogged him since his retirement, he perhaps should have retired even sooner.
But at the time, the news that Campbell was retiring stunned both fans and his head coach.
"(It) was a complete surprise to me," Jim Mora said, via the Times. "He was still our No. 1 tailback."
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Ed Bailey/Associated Press
When Al Toon called it a career, the three-time Pro Bowler didn't have much choice.
It didn't take Toon long to become a centerpiece of some potent New York Jets offenses of the late 80s and early 90s. In his second season, topped 1,000 receiving yards. He would do so again in 1988 while catching a career-high 93 passes.
But in each of his final six seasons, Toon missed time due to injuries. And in November 1992, Toon suffered the ninth diagnosed concussion of his career.
In 2016, he told Fox Sports' Sam Gardner that he had no regrets about walking away when he did.
"I had three kids and was happily married and wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for my family,. So the decision wasn't difficult when I had all the information.
I just felt blessed to have the opportunity to play the game for as long as I did.
"... I was disappointed that I wasn't able to make the decision based on other factors—primarily just, 'OK, I'm done with this. I've satisfied my need to play and it's time to move on.' But there was never one moment of regret."
Toon also said that despite what's now known about the long-term effects of concussions, he doesn't regret playing the game.
"It was a wonderful experience, and I probably wouldn't change it even if I had the opportunity to. It opened a lot of doors for me, I learned a lot about who I am and it gave me a leg up financially going forward. So I was extremely blessed, and I'm very appreciative of the opportunity that the Hess family gave me."
Had his career not been cut short, Toon likely would be mentioned along with Art Monk, Andre Reed and some of the other great wideouts of his era.
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Beth Keiser/Associated Press
Bo Jackson wasn't just a great running back.
He was a phenomenon.
Whether it was with his "Bo Knows" commercials or by single-handedly breaking a video game, Jackson captured the imagination of sports fans everywhere.
However, his NFL career came to an abrupt, tragic end.
During a playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 1991, Jackson suffered a career-ending hip injury. After four truncated seasons split between the Los Angeles Raiders and Kansas City Royals, Jackson was done with football.
But before Jackson suffered that injury, he was already planning to quit the game. In 2012, he told ESPN that the 1990 season was going to be his last regardless (h/t Levi Damien of SB Nation).
"Four days before I had the hip injury, my wife and I sat down and talked about my sports career and I was planning on announcing my retirement from football that season ... I swear to you ... I didn't lose the love for the game, I've never lost the love for the game, but it was getting hard to ... because my oldest was getting ready to start school.
"I didn't want to take him out of school in Kansas City, then take him out of school, put him in school in Los Angeles, and when the season was over, we go back to Alabama. I didn't want him being moved around and shuffled around like that.
"It was more because my family and my kids. I was willing to go and do something else and to make sure my kids didn't grow up and have the childhood that I did."
Had Jackson not gotten hurt and had instead just walked away from the NFL, every other sudden retirement featured here—from Sanders to Brown—would pale by comparison in terms of sheer shock value.
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Anonymous/Associated Press
For decades, Gale Sayers has been the poster boy for a promising career cut short by injury.
As a rookie in 1965, he finished second in the NFL in rushing and won Rookie of the Year. In his second season, he won the rushing title, picking up more than 1,200 yards on the ground and averaging 5.
4 yards per carry.
On a per-touch basis, Sayers was having an even better year in 1968, averaging a gaudy 6.2 yards per carry. But one week after he tallied a career-high 205 rushing yards against the rival Packers, Sayers tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee during a game against the 49ers.
When Sayers returned to the field in 1969, it was clear that he had lost a step. But he still led the league in rushing and was the only 1,000-yard rusher that season.
During the 1970 preseason, Sayers suffered an injury to his other knee. The then-27-year-old tried to play through it, but he ultimately had surgery and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
He would play two more games and gain 38 yards on 13 carries before announcing his retirement in 1971.
That Sayers was a no-brainer inductee into the Hall of Fame is a testament to just how great he was when healthy. Former teammate Johnny Morris said Sayers was as dangerous a runner as any man who ever played, according to Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times.
"I played with Gale. I covered Payton [as a sportscaster/announcer], and I've covered a lot of guys over the years. If I wanted one player for a season, I'd take Walter Payton. But if I wanted a player for one play, I'll take Gale Sayers—above every running back I've seen, whether it be Jimmy Brown or O.J. Simpson."
It's fascinating to wonder what Sayers might have been capable of in the modern era.
Barry Sanders
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Barry Sanders, (born July 16, 1968, Wichita, Kansas, U.
S.), American professional gridiron football player who was one of the game’s outstanding running backs. In his 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions (1989–98), Sanders led the National Football League (NFL) in rushing four times and was selected every year for the Pro Bowl. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
In high school, Sanders’s small stature of 1.73 metres (5 feet 8 inches) discouraged coaches from playing him at running back until the last five games of his senior year. The startling 1,417 yards that he gained, however, were enough to earn him a football scholarship to Oklahoma State University (OSU). Sanders became the starting halfback in 1988 and rushed for 2,628 yards—the best single-season rushing performance in the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association—winning the Heisman Trophy that year as the nation’s best college football player. When OSU was put on probation the next year, Sanders declared himself eligible for the professional draft and was selected by the Detroit Lions as the third overall pick.
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Sanders set records for rushing more than 1,000 yards in 10 straight seasons, for rushing 1,500 yards or more in 5 different seasons (and the first to do so in 4 consecutive seasons), and for rushing more than 100 yards in 14 consecutive games. His most impressive season was 1997, when he became only the third back to rush for more than 2,000 yards; his 2,053 yards rushing and 305 yards in pass receptions, for a combined 2,358 yards, set a single-season record for running backs.
Like Jim Brown, Sanders left the game at or near his athletic peak. With 15,269 career rushing yards and 99 rushing touchdowns, Sanders was close to eclipsing Walter Payton’s all-time records. Instead, Sanders was forced to return more than $5 million of his most recent signing bonus to the Detroit Lions after his early retirement.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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Barry Sanders is a former American football player. He played professionally for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). Guest Pro Bowl player in each of his ten NFL seasons and two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year. Sanders led the league in fast running four times and established himself as one of the most elusive runners in professional football due to his speed and agility.
In 2007, he was named the most elusive running back in NFL history by the NFL Top 10 network and also topped its list of the greatest players who never played in the Super Bowl. He is often considered one of the greatest running backs in NFL history.
Barry Sanders was born in Wichita, Kansas, USA on July 16, 1968. As of 2018, he is 50 years old.
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He was born in Wichita, Kansas on July 16, 1968. Barry was born to William Sanders and Shirley Ann Sanders. He has two brothers (Boyd Sanders and Byron Sanders) and two sisters (Lynn Sanders and Nancy Sanders).
He attended Wichita North High School. Sanders began as a sophomore, but his brother Byron preempted him in the position the following year. Sanders did not become a starting running back until the fourth game of his senior year. In the last seven games of the season, he rushed for 1,417 yards, earning him every state award.
During this seven-game span, Sanders averaged 10.2 yards per carry, but he was overlooked by most college recruiters. Although he was a star athlete, Sanders only received scholarship offers from Emporia State University, the University of Tulsa, and Oklahoma State University-Stillwater.
He was married to Lauren Campbell Sanders, former WDIV news anchor in Detroit. He filed for divorce from his wife in February 2012 after 12 years of marriage.
Sanders - father of four sons; Barry J. Sanders, Nigel Sanders, Noah Sanders and Nicholas Sanders. The younger three are from marriage to Lauren Campbell. His eldest son, Barry J. Sanders, played at Stanford University from 2012 to 2015 after a highly successful high school career.
As a freshman in 2008, Barry rushed for 742 yards and twelve touchdowns helping Heritage Hall win the 2008 Oklahoma 2A state title. In addition, he was the only sophomore on the 2009 Tulsa State team.. Sanders is deeply but quietly religious (Christian).
At Oklahoma State University, Sanders played for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1986 to 1988 and wore number 21. For the first two years, he supported the Thurman Thomas All-American Society. In 1987, he led the team in yards per return kickoff (31.
6) and also rushed over 600 yards and scored 8 touchdowns. Thomas moved to the NFL and Sanders became a starter in his freshman year.
In 1988, considered one of the best individual seasons in high school football history, Sanders roamed the country averaging 7.6 yards per pass and over 200 yards per game, including rushing over 300 yards in four games.
Despite his huge remaining task of 344 passes, Sanders was still used as a group punt and return first shot, including another 516 yards of unusual groups.
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He set high school football season records: 2,628 yards, 3,248 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, 37 rushed touchdowns, 5 uninterrupted reps for 200 yards, scored 2 touchdowns in any event. 11 games back to back and scored several times. anyway 3 touchdowns.
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In addition, Sanders continued to run for 222 yards and hit 5 touchdowns in 75% of his activity at 19'88 in the Holiday Bowl, a game that is excluded from official NCAA season measurements.
Sanders learned of his Heisman Trophy victory while he was with the group in Tokyo, Japan preparing to take on Texas Tech at the Coca-Cola Classic. He left Oklahoma State before his senior season to enter the NFL Draft.
The Detroit Lions selected Sanders with the 3rd overall pick in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft thanks to the support of then-coach Wayne Fontes. The Lions management considered drafting another Sanders, cornerback Deion Sanders, but Fontes convinced them to draft Barry. He was offered the No. 20, which was worn by former Lions greats Lem Barney and Billy Sims. Early 19The Sims was one of the league's top running guards in the '80s, and Fontes asked Sanders to wear that number as a nod to the Sims.
In 1989, a contract dispute caused Sanders to miss training camp in his rookie year. He ran eighteen yards for the first time in the regular season and scored a touchdown in fourth. He finished the season second in the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns after refusing to return to the regular season finale just 10 yards away from the championship title (later won by Christian Oka) and winning Rookie of the Year honors.
Sanders featured as a running back for Lion teams that made the playoffs five times during the 1990s. He was a member of the 1991 and 1993 teams that won the NFC Central Division title; the 1991 team won 12 regular season games (a franchise record).
He also totaled 283 receiving yards for a total of 2,166 scrimmage yards for the season. In addition, he was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
Sanders' best season was in 1997 when he became a member of the 2000 Yards Club. After a start in which he gained 53 yards on 25 hits in the first two games of the season (although he passed Eric Dickerson as the active career rushing leader). He was the first to run 1,500 yards in five seasons and the only one to do so four years in a row. At the end of the season, Sanders shared the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player award with Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
During Sanders' career, he reached Pro Bowl status in all ten seasons in the NFL. Sanders was named All-Pro on the first team six times in 1989–1991 and 1993, 1994 and 1997.
He was also named All-Pro on the first team four times in 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998. Sanders was also named All-NFC in 1989–92 and 1994–97. He was named Offensive Player of the Year in '94 and '97, NFL MVP in '97, and was named to the 1990s NFL All-Decade Team.
Unlike many of the star players of his era, Sanders also had a low profile on the pitch. Despite his flamboyant playing style, Sanders rarely celebrated after the whistle. Instead, he passed the ball to the referee or congratulated his teammates.
On July 27, 1999, Sanders announced that he was retiring from professional football. His retirement was made public when he faxed a letter to his hometown newspaper, the Wichita Eagle.
He left football healthy with 15,269 rushing yards (the highest total by an NFL player in 10 years), 2,921 receiving yards, and 109 touchdowns (99 rushes and 10 receptions). He retired within arm's length of Walter Payton's career high of 16,726 yards. Only Payton and Emmitt Smith ran more yards than Sanders.
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Some thought that Lions head coach Bobby Ross may have actually been the reason for his early retirement, but in his autobiography Barry Sanders: Now You See Him, Sanders stated that Ross had nothing to do with his retirement , and praised him as a head coach.
Sanders is a retired professional American football running back with an estimated net worth of $28 million.
He is 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall and weighs 200 pounds (91 kg).
20 retired Due to the many trades and free agent signings that marked the start of the 2015 NFL season, news that three players suddenly decided end their careers, have gone virtually unnoticed. Patrick Willis was the cornerstone of San Francisco's defense, and Jake Locker and Jason Worlds could count on interest from many teams in the league. All three decided to hang up their boots for various reasons, but the question hung in the air - will the reasons that prompted players to end their careers become a more common trend among professional footballers who are aware of the risks of their profession?
Each of the three retirement decisions was shocking on its own, but it makes more sense to start with Willis, who is the most famous player of the trio.
In terms of physical condition, Willis had a rather vague future. He was haunted by pain - a toe injury had tormented him since college. The problem resurfaced when Willis injured his left big toe against the Rams in Week 6 of the regular season. Willis was supposed to be able to recover fairly quickly, but the player chose to go under the knife and go through corrective surgery. The player himself stated that the operation was needed to prolong his career in football, but a few months later, Willis seems to have changed his mind.
He retires as one of the most prominent players of his generation, although he was selected in the 2007 draft that also brought in Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson and Darrell Reavis. The only player from that draft who can claim to have made as many Pro Bowls and been named to the same number of first-team All-Pro teams as Willis is Browns tackle Joe Thomas. Willis is considered the best player in his draft by Pro-Football-Reference.com Player Value.
When counted from the moment Willis entered the league, he is considered the second-best player (excluding quarterbacks) in the NFL, second only to Saints guard Jary Evans.
The notion that Willis hasn't been in the league long enough to be considered a Hall of Fame nominee doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Willis has only missed the Pro Bowl once in his eight years in the league, and that was in 2014 when he missed 10 games. In the first half of his career, he played for the far from lacking stars from the sky lineups of the Photoniners, so it cannot be assumed that Willis got into the Pro Bowl due to connections or because of the successful performances of the team.
Willis was named to the first team of the best players in the league five times in his career. In the history of the NFL, 16 other linebackers have achieved this, and 12 of them were inducted into the Hall of Fame (when Ray Lewis becomes eligible for entry into the Hall, he will be the thirteenth). Of those who still were not awarded a place in the Hall, one can remember, for example, Zach Thomas, but I suspect that sooner or later he will get his place among the greats.
And don't think of this as an attempt to draw numbers by the ears and put Willis on a par with Hall of Famers that some might think Willis doesn't measure up to. Making the best players on the national teams is one of the best ways to gauge what outsiders think of a player at the end of the season. And in the Hall of Fame were almost all of those who were as good as Willis for a comparable period of time.
Let's look at it differently. Imagine Willis coming back from a toe injury and he's not at his best, not 100% ready. Let's say the 49ers notice this at training camp and decide to rotate him with three other inside linebackers, and then retire him at the end of the season. Willis moves to Cleveland and spends three more years there, performing at a decent level, at the end of his career he teams up with Bill Belichek in London (just kidding, just a test of attentiveness) and then ends his career with the same seven Pro Bowls and five All-Pro Teams. Does anyone dare to say that with such a resume, he is closed to the Hall of Fame? Injuries eventually clipped his wings, but with a track record like that, for Willis, all roads still lead to Canton, Ohio.
No one doubted that Barry Sanders deserved a place in the Hall, although he retired at 30 years old. Willis is an equally well-deserved player, but not in such a prominent position.
Injuries ended up clipping his wings, but with a track record like that, all roads to Willis still lead to Canton, Ohio.
Plus Willis made the players around him better. The same applies to Justin Smith, who, apparently, by the age of 35, has also played his part. Takeo Spikes, for example, played the outside linebacker in a 4-3 defensive system for nearly a decade and moved to San Francisco during Willis' second year on the team. Spikes played three seasons with the Photoniners at the Pro Bowl level, then moved to San Diego and immediately deflated and played rather nondescriptly.
In San Francisco, Spikes was replaced by third-round pick Navarro Bowman, a Penn State alumnus. He had a shaky first season in the league, but playing alongside Willis as a starter turned him into a three-time All-Pro.
True, in the game for the NFC title, he received a serious knee injury and missed the entire 2014 season.
It was Willis and Bowman who cemented San Francisco's impenetrable defense in 2011 and 2012 (the team's first two years under Jim Harbaugh). Considering the incredible number of young talented players in defense and offense gathered in San Francisco and what an amazing coach they managed to poach from the university championship, you can forgive the fans of the team for believing that a dynasty of champions is being born again in front of them. . Today, most of the failed dynasty has sunk into oblivion (especially for defense). Harbaugh left to coach the University of Michigan team. Defense coordinator Vic Fangio refused to replace Harbaugh as chief and left for Chicago. And if today you look at the list of players who were in the starting lineup in defense of those Fortiners, the first thing that catches your eye is how quickly everyone fled in all directions. Ahmad Brooks is the only player who has not retired from the team, suffered a serious injury and has not been the victim of a number of incidents off the football field (and even then Brooks may soon be out of the team for financial reasons).
The Niners have a roster of holes on all fronts, but they are as equipped as any other team that would lose a Hall of Famer at its peak. They should bring back Bowman, who turns 27 this month and who may not be a player of his pre-knee level (and playing alongside Willis), but should still be a reasonably effective starter.
They even have a solid replacement in Michael Wilhoit, who started in Bowman's spot in each of 16 games last season and was recently traded before Willis announced his retirement. By the way, with the departure of Willis, San Francisco will have nearly $7.5 million in payroll. Although I am sure that they would prefer to part with this amount and see their leader of the defense again on the field.
***
The retirement of Titans quarterback Jake Locker is very different from Willis. Loker played four years on a rookie contract with the Tennessees and entered the free agency market. And even with the 2010 first-round draft pick Loker failing to live up to expectations, no one doubted that the athletic 26-year-old quarterback would be able to fit in as a back-up passer for one of the league's clubs.
But Locker decided to forego that prospect and decided to draw a line under his NFL career as well. Loker came into the league as a typical example of a promising, but not very skilled guy. He had brutal shooting power and was incredibly athletic, but he didn't read defenders very well and didn't shoot very accurately while still playing for the University of Washington team. A 54% shot percentage was a direct indication that we were facing a quarterback who still had a lot to learn and progress to be successful. Whether it was a lack of talent, injury, or inefficient coaching, Locker has only made 57.7% of his NFL shots in his career.
Career has become an illustration of a fairly typical story. Matt Miller of Bleacher Report, after the news of Locker's retirement, recalled one quote from his scouting report on Jake, which belonged to one of the coaches of the university team. Locker's Washington mentor doubted that the latter really loves football. That opinion seemed marginal, since all the other scouts were confident in the leadership qualities of the player.
Jake was also a budding baseball player in high school, and the Angels even drafted him in the 10th round of the 2009 Amateur Draft.of the year. Logically, after leaving football, many expected Loker to try to make a career in baseball, but the Angels said they had no interest in the 26-year-old player, despite the fact that they paid $ 300,000 for the rights to him. Locker has spent almost half of his professional football career dealing with injuries. Loker is tired, Loker leaves.
***
The third newly minted "pensioner" is perhaps the strangest of all. Steelers outside linebacker Jason Warilds has never been seriously injured in his career (wrist and hamstring problems were years ago, and these injuries are considered minor by NFL standards). His career has skyrocketed - he hit 15.5 sacks in the last two seasons and was a fly in the ointment of Pittsburgh's defense. Warilds just turned 27, and as a young pass rusher, he would be in high demand in the free agent market.
It's not hard to imagine that the Warilds could sign a new contract with some desperate team like Tennessee or Philadelphia and get 20 million guaranteed money.
But Warilds decided to take a different path. And here we are not talking about "spiritual awakening", although the end of a career is associated with immersion in religion. As far as I know, the Worlds don't switch to another sport. He retires from football simply because he can afford it.
This idea seems to me the most curious. We ask the question why Waridles is leaving, and forget that the opposite question is just as relevant - "Why stay?". Most people think that players are trying to play as long as possible in order to earn more money. But the Warilds earned $13.6 million career from a rookie contract and a year under the transition tag. Loker has earned $12.6 million over the course of his career. Willis, the superstar who signed a massive new contract after the expiration of his "baby" agreement, has earned a total of 42.
6 million. All three can count on retirement from the NFL. I don't think these guys are poor.
There is a dilemma here. Players today are more aware than ever of the physical damage a career in football can cause. Players still continue to make short-sighted and even dangerous decisions for the time being (as Julian Edelman did in the Super Bowl), but one cannot help but assume that current players admit the idea of ending their careers a little earlier and do not follow the logic of “get as as much as possible, to play as long as possible.
I'm not going to pretend that the NFL cares about player safety or health in the slightest, but the idea of a league where players end their careers at an earlier age sounds appealing. Replacing veterans with younger players will result in a reduction in salary payments (under the terms of the current Collective Agreement). Experienced players with a rich medical history behind them will make way for fresh newcomers, and this will reduce the cost of medical care.
I doubt that the league itself would promote such an idea of "early" retirement of players, but the league itself could only benefit from this.
I'm not going to pretend that the NFL cares about player safety or health in the slightest, but the idea of a league where players end their careers at an earlier age sounds appealing.
Perhaps there is no trend here. First there was Jim Brown, then Sanders, then Robert Smith. But you can't compare three players who ended their careers at a relatively young age with an ocean of players ready to gnaw the lawn into old age. While Willis is part of a lineup of big-caliber players who retired early, most players won't be able to turn down a piece of the $20 million pie the way Warilds did. Tom Brady is idolized for his desire to play until the age of 45. Jake Locker, in turn, all sorts of idiots spread rot on Twitter.
Don't expect players to end their careers all of a sudden in the next two months.
Not in the next two months, but in the longer term? If players in the future begin to end their careers earlier than in the past, no one will raise an eyebrow. And players from the 2030 draft are likely to spend less time in the league than those drafted in 2010. Although it remains an open question whether retirement will be a conscious choice.
P.S. The other day it became known that Chris Borland, mentioned in the text, decided to end his career at the age of 24. The player called the reason for this decision the unwillingness to put his health at risk and endanger. It is difficult to say whether Borland will become the first sign, a pioneer and an example for other "refuseniks" who value their health more than money and it remains to be hoped that the league's commissioner Roger Goodell, in his usual professional manner, will responsibly approach the issue and the traumatism of American football will not become the main topic for discussions in the off-season and will not create panic among the players and fans.
