Mike Freeman’s 10-Point Stance: The Impact of the NFL’s CTE Admission

March 16, 2016   ·   Mike Freeman   ·   Jump to comments

1. Players retiring early is no longer a fluke
Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji semi-retired Monday. He's just 29. 
He joins a growing list of players who have recently retired with years left in the gas tank—names like Calvin Johnson, Jason Worilds, Marshawn Lynch and Jerod Mayo. There was Jake Locker. There was Chris Borland and Justin Smith and Patrick Willis and Anthony Davis and seemingly all the rest of the Jim Harbaugh 49ers.
Borland is the poster boy for the early retirements, the budding superstar who called it quits after his first NFL season and said his leaving the game was specifically a pre-emptive strike to avoid long-term health issues. But not every situation has been analogous to Borland's. Raji said he will sit out 2016, but he didn't rule out a return and refuted any notion that his decision to semi-retire was about long-term health concerns.
No, not every case is the same, but what we are seeing can no longer be...

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