Episode 57 - NFL Draft Class - OL Edition
A lot of time is spent talking about NFL players behaving badly or embarrassingly -- we almost got through a weekend without Johnny Manziel opining on partying, for instance -- but D'Brickashaw Ferguson retired as the New York Jets' left tackle over the weekend, and it's worth taking a few minutes to read his farewell letter to fans. It is as impressively done as his career was.
There are those who tried to squeeze Ferguson into the group of players who have retired early because of health concerns, but it is clear from Ferguson's own words that his decision to walk away after 10 years was far more nuanced than any straight-line narrative. A first-round draft pick in 2006 -- the first by former general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who selected center Nick Mangold later in that round to form the bedrock of what was once one of the NFL's best lines -- who played every game and all but one snap in his career and never missed a practice, Ferguson knew what those who watched closely had detected, too. His play had begun to slowly erode, and it was harder and harder for him to compete at the highest level.
"I never wanted to define myself by the size of a potential contract, but rather by my ability to compete with the best that the game could offer," Ferguson wrote. "Though I was successful in accomplishing that feat largely throughout my career, the difficulty in playing at such a level began to increase."
At 32, Ferguson had made nearly $70 million, a very nice nest egg for a player with a curious mind who wanted to pursue other goals and who had to decide whether he wanted to swallow a substantial pay cut from the Jets. Would he have continued to play if no pay cut was requested? Maybe so. But the
