RAND: Will to keep going sometimes wavers

Apr 05, 2005, 3:54:03 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ

You might wonder why somebody like Chiefs guard Will Shields would even think twice about whether he wants to play another season in the NFL.

He’s the best in the business at his position, enjoys the fame and fortune of the NFL and, at 33, isn’t old for an offensive lineman. So, you might ask, how could he feel the need to ponder his future as the Chiefs get into their off-season conditioning program?

Yes, it would come as a surprise if Shields, a 10-time Pro Bowl pick, decides to retire. But the fact that he’s considering the possibility shouldn’t come as a surprise at all.

After being involved in a collision on virtually every offensive snap of every game for 12 years, a player would be nuts if he didn’t reevaluate his desire to stay in the collision business for a 13th season. No other major professional sport takes as much of a toll on the body as does pro football. Hockey comes closest but the ex-hockey player is more likely to be identified by a smashed nose or scarred cheek than by a pronounced limp.

While the old-time football player is stereotyped as the gladiator who plays with reckless abandon and no regard for his body, most players today are smarter than that. They see ex-players, including some of their own assistant coaches, limping or needing artificial joints. There’s something to be said for staying healthy enough to play with the grandchildren some day.

A player is entitled to wonder if he wants to spend another season hurting all over every Sunday morning. Most players find that early in their careers, they can discard their soreness early in the week. But as the years go by, they learn to live with being sore nearly all the time.

Players talented enough to stay in the league a decade or so usually become less and less enthusiastic about training camp. So you can imagine how they may feel about jumping into off-season conditioning, three months before the start of training camp.

You won’t find many professional athletes who ever get tired of the games. But the year-around conditioning and week-to-week preparation during the season become chores sooner or later. Even quarterback Joe Montana, the all-time competitor, locker room prankster and football rat, eventually lost his desire to continue the film study, meetings, practices and conditioning needed to get ready for the fun on Sunday.

We’ve seen more and more players feel that way after just a few years in the NFL. After four or five intense seasons in a major college football program, then a few years in the NFL, the glamour of pro football can wear off in a hurry. Among the hundreds of marginal NFL players, the willingness to persevere through year-around preparation is a key factor in separating those who stay in the league from those who don’t.

Ricky Williams stunned the Miami Dolphins before training camp last summer by retiring after only five seasons, in which he established himself as one of the league’s best backs. Though he’s offered conflicting reasons for his early exit, he seemed partly burned out by his heavy workload and consequent punishment.

Fans who grew up dreaming of playing in the NFL, understandably, don’t want to hear about the hardships of playing pro football. In their mind, it’s just one long glamorous and glorious ride and any player who wants to get off is just plain spoiled.

Fact is, though, that every endeavor, no matter how rewarding, sooner or later becomes a job, with its up side and down side and the lure of retirement.

Even pro football. And, for the 30-something set, especially pro football.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former sportswriter and columnist in Kansas City and Miami, Rand has covered the NFL for three decades and seen 23 Super Bowl games. His column appears twice weekly in-season.