BostonHerald.com, Wednesday, March 18, 2015
The shocking decision made by 24-year-old San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland to retire this week for health reasons that have nothing to do with any apparent injury and everything to do with the concussive nature of his sport might not become a tidal wave of change for football, but this is not an isolated incident.
Borland is the fifth player 31 years old or younger in the past week to walk away from America’s most popular sport, joining former teammate Patrick Willis, Pittsburgh’s Jason Worilds, Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker and former Pro Bowl cornerback Cortland Finnegan.
Each had their reasons for leaving, and only Borland attributed the decision to the concussion epidemic that has rocked pro football, but Finnegan and Willis left because of ceaseless pain and the consequences they see in playing too long a sport NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith once said guarantees only one thing: injury.
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