Early retirement the new normal in NFL

“Well, I think an old adage is that you play till the wheels fall off,” Borland said after taking part in a panel discussion after the documentary “Requiem For A Running Back” at the Freep Film Festival last week.

Borland made 108 tackles and had two interceptions with the San Francisco 49ers as a rookie in 2014, but he gave up a six-figure income and all the glory that comes with being an NFL player last March after studying the long-term effects of brain injuries and football.

Borland said he spoke with Levy after Levy sent an email on the topic to the Free Press last week that Borland called “poignant and clear-headed and mature, kind of the antithesis of Jerry Jones and Jim Irsay.” And while he doesn’t know Johnson or what went into his decision to retire after nine NFL seasons – “For me it’s not an early retirement,” Borland said – he said seeing young players like Tyler Sash diagnosed with the brain disease CTE postmortem persuaded him to once again fight for mental health awareness after initially retreating from the public eye.

During the panel discussion at the Film Festival last week, Borland said it’s unrealistic to think that football will be banned, but he does advocate for less hitting in youth leagues.

“It makes no sense to me that in the pros you hit 14 times a year once the season starts but in high school we hit three times a week, in college we hit three times a week,” he said.