What's The Future Like?

Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds, Oakland Raiders running back Maurice Jones-Drew, and San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis are just a few names in a recent list of NFL players to retire while still in their prime. None of the retirements came as a result of head injuries, but as a result of players wanting to save their bodies and do more with their life beyond football. The most surprising is Patrick Willis, age 30, who retired because of injury and not wanting to walk with a limp the rest of his life. Willis had a heart-felt press conference to make the announcement; during the press conference Willis stated that he would notice other players walking around after they’ve retired and have difficulty doing so, “they can't play with their kids or they can't play a pickup basketball game or they can barely walk”. All the players had something in common upon retiring; there was more money to be had.

Willis had 20 million dollars remaining in base salary on his current contract. That’s a lot of money, but the price of not being able to walk or play with your kids is not worth that much. Is what these players did a sign of things to come for the NFL? It very well could be.

This isn’t about concussions but obviously it’s a focal point. As someone who has post concussion syndrome I can tell you that it causes a normal day to turn into hell. I don’t have it as bad as some do, which I’m thankful for, but it’s something that does affect my life and is something that NFL is trying to not have happen with it’s players down the road after they finish playing.

The NFL as we know is a violent game and it seems to only be getting more violent. If you look at the landscape of football at all levels, you can tell that it’s changing. It’s getting faster and when you add in how much bigger and stronger kids are; you’re going to have more collisions that look like car accidents. Which makes you wonder about the future of football.

I’ve been known to make bold predictions on certain things and I have another one that people will no doubt disagree with. Somewhere down the road the NFL is going to have to make a drastic change to the game or eliminate football altogether. The only way concussions are going to be taken out of the game is if football is taken away. As crazy as that sounds, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility. The league is looking at every possibility on how to monitor concussions and the protocols teams need to take in order ensure players safety; but there is only so much you can do.

I get the fact that the game is changing in favor of player’s safety and they are trying to limit the amount of helmet-to-helmet collisions but that’s not a realistic thought. Sure, players are being trained how to tackle with their heads up, but when the play is happening and everyone is going full speed you can’t think about tackling with your head up. Now like I said, I’ve been known to make crazy predictions and this is definitely one of them, but if you really think about, it’s not all that crazy.