Another Detroit Lions' superstar calls it quits before his time. All that losing (and the pounding) must wear on a person.
I guess the prospect of continuing to risk his health with a bad team was no longer appealing to him.
Another Detroit Lions' superstar calls it quits before his time. All that losing (and the pounding) must wear on a person.
ed on the money that the top players can make coupled with the unsettling knowledge of the medical issues that they will face in the years to follow, you are going to see more and more players retire early. Yes, there will still be elite players like Peyton and Tom Brady who are multi millionaires, yet love the game so much that they will play until they have nothing left. And of course there will be journeymen players who will try and grasp every last dollar that they can and will ignore all medical info and basically play until they can't walk in order to collect a paycheck.
But I think there a lot of players (like Calvin Johnson) who have made enough money in their career and would rather try and prevent more physical damage to their bodies and get out of the league a year or two early than too late. Given what players know about the effects of concussions and the possibility of developing CTE, and suffering from a whole host of other problems, for many of them it's not worth the medical risk.
Calvin Johnson is a great player; a border line HOF. But he has taken a pounding being the star of the team. He's made his money, left his mark on the NFL, and frankly has nothing left to prove. Many players, I believe, will follow his example.