For some former NFL players, retirement isn't an easy thing to adjust to
For 21 years, I had strapped it on and played football, but all of sudden, bang, it’s gone.
The biggest challenge many of our players have is looking ahead for the rest of their lives. They have everything, in a sense. In the NFL, they've achieved their dream of playing at the highest level. They have a lot of money, but it comes to an end quicker than most of them can even imagine.
Yesterday, millions of us watching Super Bowl XXXVIII from here in Houston. It has become a spectacle of epic proportions- gladiators doing battle in the largest of arenas. Lost in the spectacle, however, is the reality that playing professional football takes a toll on those who play it.
Anyone who has played football at any level knows what a violent and dangerous sport it can be. It can also be a beautiful and graceful sport as well. Therein, perhaps, lies the appeal for so many of us. I played in junior high school, but after getting the snot knocked out of me more times than I can remember, I finally decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor and went out for the cross-country team.
If you take the collisions I experienced, and factor in the exponential increases in size and speed that exist in the NFL, it isn't difficult to understand why the risk of injury is so high. Football is a sport that, perhaps more than any other, leaves it's mark on those who play it. Imagine being involved in several automobile accidents every Sunday afternoon, and you might begin to understand the sheer violence and raw power involved in hitting on the NFL level.
There is also a toll outside of the physical realm to be dealt with as well. What happens when a career ends, and the bright lights, the fame, and the fortune are no longer there? What then? For many players, making the transition to life after football is a difficult one. Consider this:
- 65% of NFL players leave the game with permanent injuries. This is particularly disturbing when you consider that the average NFL career is only four years.
- 25% experience financial difficulties in their first year of retirement.
- 78% are unemployed, bankrupt, or divorced within two years of playing their last game.
- The suicide rate for NFL players, whether active or retired, is six times higher than the national average.
Many players grew up being receiving special treatment because of their athletic prowess. Having received and no doubt having become accustomed to this lifelong special treatment, how does a player deal with the reality that they are no longer "special"? Once their diminished physical skills or severe injuries have rendered them just another member of society, what next? Most of us look forward to reaching retirement age, generally in our 60s. What happens when an athlete reaches retirement at, says, 34? What do you do with the rest of your life? What happens when you realize, as Timm Rosenbach did, that your time has come and gone, and it's time to figure out what comes next?
Because of the nature of the game, NFL players leaving the game face many challenge. According to Gamesover.org: these are the top 10:
- Denial: Many players fail to understand just how difficult the first year away from the game can be.
- Divorce: Fully half of the NFL marriages that fail come apart in the first year after a player retires.
- Money management: The freewheeling lifestyle that is often the hallmark of professional athletes often screeches to a halt after retirement. Adjusting to new financial realities can be a tremendous challenge in the first year after leaving footbal.
- Physical challenges: Battling the effects of permanent injuries and staying in shape can be difficult, particularly once the motivation of preparing for an upcoming season is gone.
- Lack of significance and purpose: What does a player do when football is no longer there to consume and dominate their lives? What provides meaning and purpose?
- Anger, bitterness, and jealousy: Leaving the game on your own terms is one thing. What happens, though, when your career is shortened by injuries, or you are released and cannot catch on with another team? What happens when the realization that the NFL is a business slaps a player in the face?
- Loss of structure: The life of a football player is very regimented and structured one. What happens to a player when that structure disappears suddenly? For many players, this can be a very difficult adjustment.
- Isolation: Yesterday, you were part of a team, with a shared goal and purpose. Today, you are an ex-football player, and individual in a world of individuals. If your identity revolved around being part of a team, it can be a jarring change of reality.
- Substance abuse: Retirement can be a painful adjustment, and many players will attempt to mask that pain.
- Depression: Given all of the difficulties facing ex-football players, is it any wonder that depression is a major problem?
Don't get me wrong. Football players play the game of their own free will, many knowing full well the risks they are taking on. I remember reading an interview with Washington DE Bruce Smith a few years ago. He basically said that he was aware of the risks involved in his chosen avocation. He seemed at peace with that, though, saying that if taking care of his family meant the tradeoff of a few years of his life, then it was a deal he was willing to make. I'm not sure that it's a deal that I would make in my job, but my annual salary isn't measured in millions, either.
Yes, football can be an exciting and enthralling game to watch. Yesterday's Super Bowl was probably about as exciting a game as you could ever hope to see. In our rush to lionize these gladiators, though, let's not lose sight of the fact that these same gladiators may well be paying a heavy price both now and in the future after we are finished with them and toss them aside.
