Chris Borland retiring from 49ers after one season at age 24

It's crazy the technology of helmets and concussions now adays....yet still concussions.

A kid says he has a headache, he has a concussion. Too much liability not to.

 

Between my dad and I, we played over 30 years of competitive football. Football is strong in our family. I changed my stance when I had my son. I had reservations about letting him play but he kept bringing it up so I let him play one year of tackle football and he just did not enjoy it until the last two weeks. The last couple weeks of the season I saw him seriously colliding with other kids and having that pop that separates the better hitters. I honestly became scared to death about brain injuries. I slowly stopped talking about football and instead started praising him more in basketball and soccer. He has grown to love both sports and even though concussions still happen in those sports, there is much less of a chance of him injuring his brain in those sports. He plays those two sports and also takes martial arts.

Crazy thing is I ended up hanging out with about 15 of my college buddies this weekend with whom I played football, and one of them still coaches in the NFL. I told them about my decision to steer my son clear from football and half of them said they completely understood. I feel good with my decision.

 

I just said flat out no for football. He's soccer, basketball and baseball player. He plays goalie in soccer and does where head gear. Does it help, concussive hits, no way. It's more for the other hits goalie take in a game.


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Good for that guy, I hope his back up plan works out for him. Right now the NFL doesn't have much to worry about. They are making so much money and are so popular the sport will carry on no problem even if a prominent player were to retire with fears of head trama.

Now in the future say 20-30 years down the road they may be in trouble. All the kids whose folks have held them out of football these past few years will be parents themselves and will no doubt probably hold out their kids. The talent pool will be smaller for the NFL and the on the field product will suffer costing them millions and driving away fans.

An upside to the fears of head trauma in college and the NFL are the fact that other sports may benefit from players choosing not to concentrate on football. Future athletes may choose to play other sports. Maybe that receiver will now go for basketball or that quarterback will sign with the AAA baseball team instead.

 

I don't think I could discourage my kids from playing a sport but I will make it clear not to push limits or continue to play if injured, and that goes for any injury not just a concussion. If I had it my way my son will be a big pocket QB and take less hits to the head than the rest of the players. By then it will probably be two hand touch on QBs anyway. Personally, as a kid I had worse injuries from doing stupid things compared to any injuries I had from playing football. When he's an adult he can make his own decisions, if he were to play college football or even possibly make it to the NFL then all I can do is support him and provide advice.

EDIT: Best case scenario, he follows this guys suit and makes a ton of money and then retires, would be perfectly fine by me.

 

For football standards he did not make a ton of money.

 

I loved playing football growing up. With that being said hopefully my son has zero interest it in. I'd rather him play baseball or basketball.

 

I played 1 year of college football, I got hit harder in a college practice then I ever did in highschool games. I never was concussed playing football but I can not wear a wedding ring because I have 3 fingers on my left that were broken to the point where the knuckles are huge and my fingers are bent. I need a partial hip replacement at age 48 can't be sure it was caused by football but it is what it is. I would never change a thing, I loved playing the game. I am glad my son who played does not have lasting physical effects other than the plate and screws he had put in his shoulder. It is probably the best game ever invented, the bonds you form as being part of a team last a lifetime.

 

Players are so much bigger today than say 30 - 40 years ago. A big lineman back in the day was 250 - 260. That is just not the case today. Bigger, faster and stronger creates more violent collisions equal more opportunity for concussive type hits. A higher degree of risk today than in years past when a lot of us played football. Just my opinion. I wouldn't trade my experiences of playing but would be cautious in encouragement of the sport today. Boxing and MMA are other examples where head trauma has a high occurance and I wouldn't encourage a child of mine to be involved.

 

Going into high school I was all amped for football. It was the sport that got you on TV, the cheerleaders, the whole town watched....then I started seeing my friends get hurt, and heard some older guys complaining about how their knees, shoulder, etc were never the same. Hell my best friend had 3 knee surgeries by the time he was 16 from ball, and still has problems today! I said F that, pissed my dad off, and didn't play the next year and focused on baseball and going that route. I look back sometimes and regret it, but ultimately I'm ok with it.

Good for the kid that retired. His heart obviously wasn't in it, so he, without a doubt made the right decision. I always thought these guys that get in the league, make some money quick, and walk out on their own are doing the right thing.

 

I would guess that new player contracts may begin putting a stiff penalty in place for early outs.

 

He is probably going to wish his family kept there mouths shut, and did not say he has been thinking about this all year. If he just said I am afraid for my health the 49ers would look bad going after 3/4 of the $600,000+ signing bonus. Now I bet they go after it to prevent anything like this happening with a big contract.

 

There is another part of this story that makes no sense to me. If he struggled to make this decision and feel's that football is to dangerous and he is worried about head trauma, why was he in Mexico last week teaching kids how to play football? That seams hypocritical to me. If he feels it is to dangerous for him to play, why does he feel ok teaching kids how to play a game he thinks is too dangerous?

 

A lot of talk about how he played a year and made a million dollars and he's out. He made $574,000 last year. Now it would take me over 10 years to make, but as some others have said its not a lot of money by football standards. Ex. AP was making more then that every Sunday watching the games from his couch. To each his own I guess.

Chris Borland Contract, Salary Cap Details & Breakdowns | Spotrac

 

That is a good question Tom.

 

I feel the young man made a wise decision that he can live with. He obviously has other ambitions in life, and I hope he succeeds in his future endeavors. However I would not classify his decision as retired, but as quitting. I left the Marine Corps after 4 years, I did not retire,I completed my contractual obligation and decided to not reenlist. He still had a contract to play out, so I would say he quit.

 

Why would guys that don't allow their children to play buy tickets and go to the games?

 

I don't have a problem with it. His life... his decision. Even if he did just take the money and run, he got hired, gave them a year worth of work and moved on.

As far as kids playing contact sports? That's a tough one. I hate to discourage a kid out of anything they have an interest in or excel at. However I have found myself gently persuading/advising them to explore other avenues. I'm 43 years old and my body is just about completely broke. I've suffered two concussions from playing lacrosse and one from hockey. I suffer from the effects of them to this day (nowhere near the scale of most athletes that have had them). But, nevertheless it's there. I've had about every injury there is. I used to just keep putting the pieces back together and getting back on the ice, field, course, court.... whatever it was I was playing. I pushed myself every single day with ZERO concerns. Looking back, it was the stupidest thing I have ever done. I'm in physical therapy now more than I am my living room. Trying to cope with the after math and be able to physically function. Just got back as a matter of fact treating a bulging disc and stress fracture in my back (golf related). So, yeah I have no problem with someone opting out of that. And I don't have a problem with parents persuading their kids to not put such demand on their bodies especially at a young age. There's a long adult life to live without having to deal with it the rest of your life.

 

Why not? It's a free country.

I love football, no way I would ever play it again, nor will I let my son. I won't buy him a dirt bike either, but we are going to super cross on Saturday

 

And that changes what?