49ers Chris Borland Retires... After 1 Season

[Delhommey]

What's even worse is that you have to keep paying a player when they retire. The 49ers absolutely should not have to pay this guy another dime, it's bad enough he wasted a draft pick.

Not true at all. In fact the 49ers could go after 75% of his signing bonus if they wanted.

[OneBadCat]

I think it's an admirable choice. He's picking his health over the game which is completely understandable. Why get his brain beat in when he doesn't have to?

[doogy]

The only way to fix it is to tone down the protection they wear, thus making them lay off. No amount of protection will even out the damage those guys do to one another. I always shook my head at the No Fun League whiners who hate on the NFL for these newer penalties. Anyone know the head injury rate for rugby? No pads. Yet they don't launch themselves like rockets at one another.

 

Bingo. 

[gettlemanjack]

I'm a big soccer fan, I won't lie, but there is a big reason we see a trend in soccer growing rapidly and football losing athletes consistently year to year and it makes me sad. I absolutely love football. But in 20 years many parents will push their kids towards a sport that doesn't involve constantly physical aggression with massive concussion risk. That's simply where it's all heading.

whats lost the on the casual soccer fan is the concussion issue in that sport from constantly heading the ball and head on head collisions. There's a certain amount of risk in any sport, you just have to decide if its worth the risk to you. to this kid it wasn't

Soccer has brain damage issues as well. I remember a study a few years ago found a professional soccer player to have comparable brain damage to a professional boxer. It's more likely just America starting to catch up with the rest of the world in getting on the soccer train.

if you're worried about concussions, go play baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, track, swimming, whatever, but don't go play soccer. Soccer involves repeatedly hitting your head against a 1 pound ball over and over and over. Just google: soccer concussions and you get...

New York Times: Concussions Can't Be Ignored by Soccer Any More

The New Yorker: Soccer's Concussion Crisis

Sports Illustrated: With concussion reform at forefront, should youth headers be nixed?

etc

[rodeo]

In order to collect the NFL pension, I believe a minimum of 3 years in the league is a prerequisite.

 

Borland was a 3rd round pick, collected a $617k signing bonus and his salary last year was about the same amount, so it's not like he got rich off a signing bonus. The 49ers don't owe him another dime and because he retired, I'm sure there is no cap hit.

 

He's not getting paid by anyone for calling it quits. 

 

If that's true then good. I honestly was just basing it off of how Gross stayed on our books after he retired.

[jdpanther5]

If that's true then good. I honestly was just basing it off of how Gross stayed on our books after he retired.

That also has to do with the contract we gave him and the repeated restructures.

[mmmbeans]

If that's true then good. I honestly was just basing it off of how Gross stayed on our books after he retired.

 

gross was still on the books?  I thought he had been renegotiated from a two year to a one year deal and then retired after that year... I thought he was technically a FA.

[Rook35200]

I work at a bar part time in San Jose, I rock my Panther hat proudly, I get poo time to time by these 49ers fans, I can't wait to laugh at their asses while they drink their sorrows away lol

 

 

What bar in San Jose? I live in San Jose too

[hepcat]

The 49ers and Steelers are two teams that no matter how much misfortune they endure I will never feel sorry for them.

[2jakefansinva]

what pisses me off is Harbaugh is not there to endure this...........want to see how great a coach you are when your talent sucks!

[Mad_Scientist_565]

dumb

[t96]

what pisses me off is Harbaugh is not there to endure this...........want to see how great a coach you are when your talent sucks!

 

If he was still there I bet none of Willis, Smith, Borland retire, to be completely honest.

[Cary Kollins]

This situation reminds me of something Gettleman said about the draft process.

Paraphrasing here, but Getts talked about the interview process before the draft. He said, "We want to find out if they love to play football. Are the passionate about playing the game. Do they hate to lose? Do they hate losing more than they like winning? Those are the kind of guys we want."

I wonder if Borland showed any signs he wasn't 100% committed prior to being drafted.

[Jeremy Igo]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Borland's family owns a successful financial firm.

Probably played into his decision to retire a bit.

All players should be so lucky.