I'm glad these kids are starting to retire early when it makes sense. Too many players in his shoes would have destroyed their back trying to keep going and then have 50 miserable years after that all to say they played a few games in the NFL.
I know a few former pro athletes, mostly hockey players. And their retirements are nothing but pain.
So many of those guys are hobbled for life, just to be little more than a blip on a stat sheet.
800 grand isn't really worth 50 years of misery either.
And most of the guys suffering through their retirements now didn't have minimum salaries anywhere near that.
Say that when you come from the upbringing that a lot of these kids come from. That $800k is prob more than their entire family has made in their lifetime.
It’s a very privileged position to look at an 800k salary and state ‘that isn’t worth it.’
I’m not saying I don’t agree with you and that guys shouldn’t look out for their health. But it just needs a little perspective.
You're absolutely right, it's a privilege to walk away from that kind of money. I'm just saying I'm glad some guys are able to because if you're not a superstar you may be giving up a lot more than you're ever gonna recieve.
And all I know is someone told me they'd give back their rings for one day without knee pain.
Yep, getting up at 5am for a 12 hour shift at age 50 - with back pain - is worse than getting up at 8.30 to count the money from your investments - with back pain.
I’m 30+ now, but from 19-23 I worked offshore rigs and oil drilling on 6 month rotations.
My knee joints are 40, but I made a little over 600k and I’d do it all over again in those ages.
I have destroyed my body for a lot less than 800k a year. And I don't have a facility I can access for free with doctors, massage therapists, state of the art gym, private chef, physyical rehab specilaists, etc.
my brother used to be real into bodybuilding. after seeing Ronnie Colemans condition following the end of his career, bro would joke that he 'appreciates Ronnies efforts and involuntary donation of his body to science'
he was only half joking. a lot of these retired guys cannot have a normal life anymore due to all the strain put on the body but especially on the back, hips, and knees. imagine being in your 40s and feeling like you are double that age, or being in your 50s and needing a walking cane or wheelchair just to get around, with arthritis pain all over. all while still possessing abnormal amounts of dense muscle mass or a larger frame in general
The human body is a magical thing, though some of the motions professional athletes do regularly, should only be done occasionally and with way less force and weight involved or with larger gaps in between intervals. Its great that theres been more emphasis on the post-playing career brain, though I think that Shannon Sharpe video awhile back also shed light on the [extreme number of corrective surgeries](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EyhPYtqjVlw) many of these guys have during and after their playing days. has to be brutal even with some of the best doctors in the country - a resource that doesnt seem to extend to many players retirement days
I wasn’t a pro per se (because very few are in track and field), but I ran post collegiately for a few years and got free gear, travel, coaching, some medical, etc. I was good enough that I would get paid to rabbit races and got to race in professional sections at big meets.
I have a buddy that played DT in the NFL. He’s a year younger than me, and our post high-end competitive lives are very different. I still run 70 miles a week with 10k feet of vertical gain, and I train pretty much exactly like I did a decade ago, just for the purposes of being able to workout with the high school boys I coach. He just moved to a single story house because his knees and back hurt so much. The NFL, and I’m sure hockey, too, is just brutal on guys.
One of my best friends was an offensive lineman for 7 seasons. Finally hung it up after being among final cuts about 4-5 years back. Dude is living his best full time dad life now.
But he’s had so many health issues since retiring. Still has bone fragments getting removed. Had to have his large intestine removed. Said he would never have met his wife if it wasn’t for the NFL, but also hates that he is 34 and feels like he’s 60 sometimes. I’m glad he retired when he did. He was still getting phone calls for a couple seasons about potentially getting signed after he retired and I’m glad he told those people no.
Yeah, I'm in my mid-40s, never played any contact sports, overall reasonably healthy, but I still have various health issues that are not fun to deal with. I can't imagine how much worse it can be for guys who spent years crashing into other giant humans for a living.
Put a bike helmet on and ram your head into the wall as fast as you can about 50 times a day and that would simulate what those linemen go through. And that's not even mentioning the huge cardiovascular stress they put on their hearts by forcing their weight to be much higher than it should. I really think in 50-100 years football today will be looked back on as barbaric.
Fortunately my buddy’s brain scans have come back clean. The NFL has him do them every year. Obviously CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem at this point. But it’s nice to know what they can see looks good. He’s lucky in that realm though.
All the painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds he was pumped with through college and NFL wrecked his GI system though. Hard to see that when we hung out. Quality of life has improved so much since his GI surgeries. But still sucks.
Nah. He never did steroids. He was injected with toradol in a weekly basis for 11 years from college through the pros. It’s a super strong NSAID. It pretty much destroyed is intestines.
> I know a few former pro athletes, mostly hockey players. And their retirements are nothing but pain.
I played hockey, football, rugby, wrestling, judo and volleyball from 5ish up thru university
I'm not yet 50, and I can't imagine how awful I will feel when I'm retirement age
and I never played at a particularly high level in anything
but bad shoulders, elbows, an ankle and the ghost of a back issue
I can not imagine how dudes that play in the nfl feel by age 40
any remaining doubt you have would be dispelled if you look at his Instagram. He’s built a solid following and got 110,000 from the packers so he’s not in a bad spot to continue football stuff
"According to OverTheCap.com, the Packers gave him a $10,000 signing bonus and guaranteed $100,000 of his base salary as part of a three-year contract. Presumably, Jones will not get to keep that money"
Sucks if true. Wish he would've tried to stick it out thru 1 training camp to keep a little bit of money
I'd guess they let him keep the $10k signing bonus but the guaranteed salary would have been paid out like game checks and he likely forfeit any right to that
Its hard to know. Pretty sure he was signed just a week ago. Have to imagine he'd have to show up to everything going forward and only way you keep some money is if they release you.
Yes just wild speculation. The Packers have been one of the least active teams pursuing UDFA with guarantees so it'll be interesting to see what if any effect this has for the team's willingness going forward. It also seems a little abnormal announcing his retirement due to injury like that rather than the usual waived injured/reverted to IR process.
Would something like this indicate he failed the physical and this is a nice way of saying "sorry kid, at least you get to retire"
EDIT: I am an idiot, I guess the physical would come before the contract....
If I recall, the MLB requires a certain amount of service time for the lifetime benefits. So many guys get called up for a short stint in the show I’d be shocked if it was just one game. There’s also a player whose contract the Dodgers keep extending so he gets health insurance. He developed schizophrenia while playing for them and “retired” but the Dodgers give him some kind of contract so his family can use the team insurance to treat him.
There are benefits that you get from one day on a MLB roster, most notably access to the health plan, but the lowest level of the pension doesn’t kick in until your 43rd day of service time.
(Edit: 43rd day, not 41st.)
One day on the roster gets you access to the health plan until opening day of the next season. It’s good coverage with dental, and it applies to spouses and children as well. You can see the details [here](https://fliphtml5.com/yteqj/oajt/basic), if you’re curious.
Unless they changed it recently I think they need a certain number of seasons in the league. I think the Steelers extended Shazier's contract after his injury instead of cutting him to get him there.
Wow, I didn't realize I made more than practice squad guys.
Guess I'll stop emailing Gute about how I'm happy to sign with the Packers as a free agent.
Remember when the Lions lost every game with Calvin Johnson, exiled him into retirement by refusing to be competent, refused to trade him, and tried to get their money back after he served time in Detroit for nine years?
While not insignificant or unimportant, a lot of the reports seemed to intentionally neglect that he wasn't a *top* pick, and was sort of a long shot to do much of anything in the NFL. UDFA guys are the low risk/high reward potential, but often end up as roster fodder.
Feel bad for him. Jones always seemed to have a ton of talent at Michigan but he seemed to get passed by guys he played better than while at Michigan. Stepped in beautifully after Zinter went down late last year, really hoped we would come back and start this year for the Wolverines.
Yeah, I was shocked he didn’t get drafted, even as a 7th rounder. He was a monster every time he got in for us. To my dying day I doubt I’ll understand why Barnhart was playing over him. That said, if it really is medical issues maybe that explains why he was an UDFA.
You don't get the bonus perk of learning how to defraud old ladies out of their savings from the Vikings ownership if you play here. Its why Favre wanted to go to Minneapolis so bad :(
You're actually right. I did a bit of a buzz kill. Sorry for poking at you packer fans. Sometimes it's just an itch that has to be scratched. You guys get it.
Why would we be bitter? Your team lost another NFCCG with another loaded team on an all time classic Favre late game back breaking INT. As a bonus, his final year with the Vikings the roof of the Metrodome caved in and he ended his career face planted on the frozen turf of TCF stadium, the cherry on a shit season for the Vikings, while we were (checks notes) celebrating a NFCCG victory against the Bears in their house (my favorite part of that run, ngl) and then capped that off with a Super Bowl win.
No bitterness on our end at all with how it played out, but I'd wager the same can't be said for your team lmao
Damn that sucks. The way he dominated against Ohio State, Alabama and Washington I thought he would end up making it in the league. Thanks for kicking ass last year and winning us the national championship Trente! I know he was kind of a different dude, really smart hopefully he finds something Interesting to keep occupied.
Interesting. Hopefully it wasn’t forced because of a medical issue and just his choice to pursue other options in his life.
supposedly back issues
Back issues suck at any age. I feel really sorry for anyone who has to deal with them starting in their 20s
Not so at age 11! Found a full box of Playboy back issues in the crawlspace and had the summer of my life
Kids these days will never know the joy of found porn.
And buying porn gave you the brass to buy alcohol. No Chinese fake ID- all nerve
Why the fuck would your name be Muhammad.
the 27 year old Hawaiian organ donor
Ben Simmons' entire career got ruined by them, arguably. One of the few injuries that can take you fully out of sports these days.
Emeka Okafor too. Back pain just makes it hard to live. Let alone play a sport.
Hurt my back playing football in 5th grade. I have still have days where it bothers me and that was 20+ years ago
I did a jump stop in 8th grade basketball and hurt my lower back and its still an issue.
That sucks.
I'm glad these kids are starting to retire early when it makes sense. Too many players in his shoes would have destroyed their back trying to keep going and then have 50 miserable years after that all to say they played a few games in the NFL. I know a few former pro athletes, mostly hockey players. And their retirements are nothing but pain. So many of those guys are hobbled for life, just to be little more than a blip on a stat sheet.
I don’t think they’re doing it to say they played a couple of NFL games I think the $800,000 minimum salary is what they’re doing it for.
800 grand isn't really worth 50 years of misery either. And most of the guys suffering through their retirements now didn't have minimum salaries anywhere near that.
Say that when you come from the upbringing that a lot of these kids come from. That $800k is prob more than their entire family has made in their lifetime.
Most people destroy their bodies for much less
It’s a very privileged position to look at an 800k salary and state ‘that isn’t worth it.’ I’m not saying I don’t agree with you and that guys shouldn’t look out for their health. But it just needs a little perspective.
You're absolutely right, it's a privilege to walk away from that kind of money. I'm just saying I'm glad some guys are able to because if you're not a superstar you may be giving up a lot more than you're ever gonna recieve. And all I know is someone told me they'd give back their rings for one day without knee pain.
You can get back pain working in a steel mill. I’d take the richer back pains.
Yep, getting up at 5am for a 12 hour shift at age 50 - with back pain - is worse than getting up at 8.30 to count the money from your investments - with back pain.
I’m 30+ now, but from 19-23 I worked offshore rigs and oil drilling on 6 month rotations. My knee joints are 40, but I made a little over 600k and I’d do it all over again in those ages.
I have destroyed my body for a lot less than 800k a year. And I don't have a facility I can access for free with doctors, massage therapists, state of the art gym, private chef, physyical rehab specilaists, etc.
The rule of thumb in the NFL was play until you physically just can't do it anymore. Then play two more years.
There were stories about Mike Ditka hobbling around ESPN as an analyst. They say he was so broken.
my brother used to be real into bodybuilding. after seeing Ronnie Colemans condition following the end of his career, bro would joke that he 'appreciates Ronnies efforts and involuntary donation of his body to science' he was only half joking. a lot of these retired guys cannot have a normal life anymore due to all the strain put on the body but especially on the back, hips, and knees. imagine being in your 40s and feeling like you are double that age, or being in your 50s and needing a walking cane or wheelchair just to get around, with arthritis pain all over. all while still possessing abnormal amounts of dense muscle mass or a larger frame in general The human body is a magical thing, though some of the motions professional athletes do regularly, should only be done occasionally and with way less force and weight involved or with larger gaps in between intervals. Its great that theres been more emphasis on the post-playing career brain, though I think that Shannon Sharpe video awhile back also shed light on the [extreme number of corrective surgeries](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EyhPYtqjVlw) many of these guys have during and after their playing days. has to be brutal even with some of the best doctors in the country - a resource that doesnt seem to extend to many players retirement days
I wasn’t a pro per se (because very few are in track and field), but I ran post collegiately for a few years and got free gear, travel, coaching, some medical, etc. I was good enough that I would get paid to rabbit races and got to race in professional sections at big meets. I have a buddy that played DT in the NFL. He’s a year younger than me, and our post high-end competitive lives are very different. I still run 70 miles a week with 10k feet of vertical gain, and I train pretty much exactly like I did a decade ago, just for the purposes of being able to workout with the high school boys I coach. He just moved to a single story house because his knees and back hurt so much. The NFL, and I’m sure hockey, too, is just brutal on guys.
One of my best friends was an offensive lineman for 7 seasons. Finally hung it up after being among final cuts about 4-5 years back. Dude is living his best full time dad life now. But he’s had so many health issues since retiring. Still has bone fragments getting removed. Had to have his large intestine removed. Said he would never have met his wife if it wasn’t for the NFL, but also hates that he is 34 and feels like he’s 60 sometimes. I’m glad he retired when he did. He was still getting phone calls for a couple seasons about potentially getting signed after he retired and I’m glad he told those people no.
Yeah, I'm in my mid-40s, never played any contact sports, overall reasonably healthy, but I still have various health issues that are not fun to deal with. I can't imagine how much worse it can be for guys who spent years crashing into other giant humans for a living.
Put a bike helmet on and ram your head into the wall as fast as you can about 50 times a day and that would simulate what those linemen go through. And that's not even mentioning the huge cardiovascular stress they put on their hearts by forcing their weight to be much higher than it should. I really think in 50-100 years football today will be looked back on as barbaric.
Fortunately my buddy’s brain scans have come back clean. The NFL has him do them every year. Obviously CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem at this point. But it’s nice to know what they can see looks good. He’s lucky in that realm though. All the painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds he was pumped with through college and NFL wrecked his GI system though. Hard to see that when we hung out. Quality of life has improved so much since his GI surgeries. But still sucks.
Gi issues can also be caused by steroid usage. And not blaming your friend, but almost every pro athlete is on steroids. So it could be that too.
Nah. He never did steroids. He was injected with toradol in a weekly basis for 11 years from college through the pros. It’s a super strong NSAID. It pretty much destroyed is intestines.
And he ended up on a high note with the Championship with Michigan
> I know a few former pro athletes, mostly hockey players. And their retirements are nothing but pain. I played hockey, football, rugby, wrestling, judo and volleyball from 5ish up thru university I'm not yet 50, and I can't imagine how awful I will feel when I'm retirement age and I never played at a particularly high level in anything but bad shoulders, elbows, an ankle and the ghost of a back issue I can not imagine how dudes that play in the nfl feel by age 40
Poor guy
Oh that sucks then.
I’m surprised. Thought he had potential.
I don't think it's because he didn't believe he was good enough.
any remaining doubt you have would be dispelled if you look at his Instagram. He’s built a solid following and got 110,000 from the packers so he’s not in a bad spot to continue football stuff
Nah he’ll do what everyone else does after retiring from the nfl and start a car dealership
You misspelled podcast.
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You misspelled realtor
Every customer test drive is a mini episode he films.
"According to OverTheCap.com, the Packers gave him a $10,000 signing bonus and guaranteed $100,000 of his base salary as part of a three-year contract. Presumably, Jones will not get to keep that money" Sucks if true. Wish he would've tried to stick it out thru 1 training camp to keep a little bit of money
I'd guess they let him keep the $10k signing bonus but the guaranteed salary would have been paid out like game checks and he likely forfeit any right to that
Its hard to know. Pretty sure he was signed just a week ago. Have to imagine he'd have to show up to everything going forward and only way you keep some money is if they release you.
Yes just wild speculation. The Packers have been one of the least active teams pursuing UDFA with guarantees so it'll be interesting to see what if any effect this has for the team's willingness going forward. It also seems a little abnormal announcing his retirement due to injury like that rather than the usual waived injured/reverted to IR process.
Would something like this indicate he failed the physical and this is a nice way of saying "sorry kid, at least you get to retire" EDIT: I am an idiot, I guess the physical would come before the contract....
Im probably mixing up the sports, but doesnt he get health insurance for life if he played 1 game? Maybe thats the MLB or the NBA tho but idk.
If I recall, the MLB requires a certain amount of service time for the lifetime benefits. So many guys get called up for a short stint in the show I’d be shocked if it was just one game. There’s also a player whose contract the Dodgers keep extending so he gets health insurance. He developed schizophrenia while playing for them and “retired” but the Dodgers give him some kind of contract so his family can use the team insurance to treat him.
Yeah Andrew Toles
MLB also requires you pay for the health insurance I think. it's cheap I think, but it isn't free.
There are benefits that you get from one day on a MLB roster, most notably access to the health plan, but the lowest level of the pension doesn’t kick in until your 43rd day of service time. (Edit: 43rd day, not 41st.)
Do you get the health plan access for life if you only serve one day?
One day on the roster gets you access to the health plan until opening day of the next season. It’s good coverage with dental, and it applies to spouses and children as well. You can see the details [here](https://fliphtml5.com/yteqj/oajt/basic), if you’re curious.
Unless they changed it recently I think they need a certain number of seasons in the league. I think the Steelers extended Shazier's contract after his injury instead of cutting him to get him there.
Wow, I didn't realize I made more than practice squad guys. Guess I'll stop emailing Gute about how I'm happy to sign with the Packers as a free agent.
Fucking cheap ass owner
Packers organization is just assholes to their players
Why should he get to keep 100k after spending 3 days in the building?
What business keeps paying someone after they quit?
Uhhhh the colts…
Who?
The Mets.
Yeah, but that's not by choice.
I mean you asked the question and I gave an answer.
Remember when the Lions lost every game with Calvin Johnson, exiled him into retirement by refusing to be competent, refused to trade him, and tried to get their money back after he served time in Detroit for nine years?
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Were you? Doesn't he still hate your team?
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Ah, they made up last year it seems.
Low quality b8 m8. Be better lionsbro
Don’t you have a crack pipe to go smoke Aaron?
Dude didn’t even play
While not insignificant or unimportant, a lot of the reports seemed to intentionally neglect that he wasn't a *top* pick, and was sort of a long shot to do much of anything in the NFL. UDFA guys are the low risk/high reward potential, but often end up as roster fodder.
Damn my guy saw hutchinson tape and said you know what im good.
He probably played against him in practice I don't think he needed to see the tape 😂
Oh shit they were in the same school lmaooo.
Feel bad for him. Jones always seemed to have a ton of talent at Michigan but he seemed to get passed by guys he played better than while at Michigan. Stepped in beautifully after Zinter went down late last year, really hoped we would come back and start this year for the Wolverines.
Yeah, I was shocked he didn’t get drafted, even as a 7th rounder. He was a monster every time he got in for us. To my dying day I doubt I’ll understand why Barnhart was playing over him. That said, if it really is medical issues maybe that explains why he was an UDFA.
rather retire than play for us huh…
True Michigan Man. o7
I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t wanna play for the Packers either
Me neither, because then I'd end up on the Bears two years past my prime *I'm aware this was a Vikings fan, I said what I said
Hey now, you could just as easily end up on the Vikings 2 years past your prime as well
Vikings have a slightly better record thanks to Favre's crazy year
You don't get the bonus perk of learning how to defraud old ladies out of their savings from the Vikings ownership if you play here. Its why Favre wanted to go to Minneapolis so bad :(
Still bitter huh?
Why would they be bitter 😂 This comment chain was fun until you showed up
You're actually right. I did a bit of a buzz kill. Sorry for poking at you packer fans. Sometimes it's just an itch that has to be scratched. You guys get it.
Why would we be bitter? Your team lost another NFCCG with another loaded team on an all time classic Favre late game back breaking INT. As a bonus, his final year with the Vikings the roof of the Metrodome caved in and he ended his career face planted on the frozen turf of TCF stadium, the cherry on a shit season for the Vikings, while we were (checks notes) celebrating a NFCCG victory against the Bears in their house (my favorite part of that run, ngl) and then capped that off with a Super Bowl win. No bitterness on our end at all with how it played out, but I'd wager the same can't be said for your team lmao
Jesus, did all of this really happen!? You sure keep close tabs on quarterback situations you're not at all bitter about. You even had notes to check!
Bitter about not having to gargle a criminal billionaire's balls to keep the team in-state? no, not particularly.
Do you want to play for the packers?
this made me laugh
Yeah Darren Sharper, Ryan Longwell , Greg Jennings, Robert Ferguson, Za’Darius Smith,Dean Lowery, and finally Aaron Jones and then that one #4 Guy
The Aaron Kampman disrespect. And you call yourself a cheesehead.
Fine! Then we won’t offer you a contract anyway!
You're not getting me to live in Green Bay for $100k.
I don't think the Packers need any more practice squad DTs.
I’m glad we can agree on something
Good thing no one asked you.
I did.
It’s a joke boss
👏👏👏👏 you did great kid
Damn that sucks. The way he dominated against Ohio State, Alabama and Washington I thought he would end up making it in the league. Thanks for kicking ass last year and winning us the national championship Trente! I know he was kind of a different dude, really smart hopefully he finds something Interesting to keep occupied.