{"id":11410,"date":"2015-03-19T10:16:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T15:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=11410"},"modified":"2015-03-19T10:26:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T15:26:34","slug":"chris-borlands-early-retirement-raises-questions-about-footballs-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chris-borlands-early-retirement-raises-questions-about-footballs-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Borland\u2019s Early Retirement Raises Questions About Football\u2019s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bennet Hayes<\/p>\n

The Monday retirement of Chris Borland, 24 years young and poised for a successful and lucrative NFL career, has sparked serious concern that\u00a0on-field safety issues may turn young players away from football.<\/p>\n

Dave Jacobs, the VP of Health and Safety for Chicagoland Youth Football League, said Borland\u2019s decision is likely to increase already prevalent concerns about the safety of football, particularly among parents contemplating their children\u2019s participation in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor lack of better words, we\u2019re under attack,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cThe game is as safe as it\u2019s ever been, but I think we now have the biggest challenge yet to make sure kids still enjoy the sport and are coming out to play it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a promising rookie season with the San Francisco 49ers last fall, Borland\u2019s future in the National Football League appeared bright. On Monday, he decided to cut that future short, retiring from the NFL at age 24 out of concerns about his safety.<\/p>\n

This NFL offseason has been defined by early retirement decisions. Within a 24-hour period last week, Jake Locker, 26, and Patrick Willis, 30, each announced decisions to end their NFL careers. Locker was the No. 8 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft; Willis made the Pro Bowl as recently as 2013.<\/p>\n

But the announcement from Borland, a second-year middle linebacker with no significant injury history to speak of, sent shock waves through the NFL community.<\/p>\n

“I mean, if it could potentially kill you — I know that’s a drastic way to put it, but it is a possibility — that really puts it in perspective to me,” Borland told ESPN Tuesday<\/a>. “To me, it just wasn’t what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes Borland\u2019s case different from other early NFL retirements is his relatively clean health record. Premature retirements have almost always stemmed from lengthy injury histories. To that point, Willis and Locker each battled injury problems in recent years.<\/p>\n

But outside of a pair of diagnosed concussions in high school and a shoulder injury that cut short his sophomore season at Wisconsin, he had avoided serious injury throughout his football career.<\/p>\n

Nate Fritts, research coordinator at Boston University\u2019s CTE Center, which has explored the connection between football impact and brain injuries, said Borland\u2019s linebacker position exposed him to potentially damaging circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent studies have shown that there is little variation in the number of diagnosed concussions among the primary football positions, but there are significant differences in the number of undiagnosed concussions,\u201d Fritts said via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that linebacker is one of the positions, along with lineman, defensive back and running back that is exposed to the highest number of impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borland\u2019s choice to retire \u2013 in large part to avoid this type of undiagnosed brain trauma \u2013 has generated significant discussion, yet the decision has been widely viewed as logical by both players and fans. Does that reaction potentially threaten the future of football?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got athletes at the professional level walking away and saying \u2018this is not safe\u2019, that\u2019s going to have a huge impact,\u201d Jacobs said.<\/p>\n

And if Borland\u2019s decision prompts other professionals to consider their futures and ultimately make the same choice, Jacobs said the health of the game will only be further jeopardized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if more NFL players walk away, that message just gets compounded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For now, Borland\u2019s decision is an isolated event as thousands of players will still fight for NFL jobs in the lead-up to April\u2019s NFL draft and beyond. The NFL is in no immediate danger of dealing with a labor scarcity.<\/p>\n

In December, Bears safety Chris Conte verbalized a view<\/a> many young players likely hold concerning their futures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather have the experience of playing in the NFL and\u00a0die 10 to 15 years earlier than not play in the NFL and have a long life,\u201d Conte said. \u201cI don\u2019t really look toward my life after football.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Borland knows that many players won\u2019t understand his decision.<\/p>\n

“I can relate from the outside looking in that it wouldn’t make sense to a lot of people, and I’ve had close friends who have said, ‘Well, why don’t you just play one more year, it’s a lot more money, you probably won’t get hurt,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don’t want to get in a situation where I’m negotiating my health for money. Who knows how many hits is too many?”<\/p>\n

Fearing long-term brain damage, Chris Borland retired from the NFL Monday at the age of 24.(O. O’Neil\/Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bennet Hayes The Monday retirement of Chris Borland, 24 years young and poised for a successful and lucrative NFL career, has sparked serious concern that\u00a0on-field safety issues may turn young players away from football. Dave Jacobs, the VP of Health and Safety for Chicagoland Youth Football League, said Borland\u2019s decision is likely to increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":11414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,31,26,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-sports","category-topics","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nChris Borland\u2019s Early Retirement Raises Questions About Football\u2019s Future - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chris-borlands-early-retirement-raises-questions-about-footballs-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chris Borland\u2019s Early Retirement Raises Questions About Football\u2019s Future - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Bennet Hayes The Monday retirement of Chris Borland, 24 years young and poised for a successful and lucrative NFL career, has sparked serious concern that\u00a0on-field safety issues may turn young players away from football. 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