I don't know if that's true at all. Players getting around 30 are starting to wonder how many more years they have.
Get a coach that you believe is just going to lose, and you're a couple of years from free agency, and maybe you start thinking twice about how many more you really want to play.
Then Jacksonville would have 36 guys retire every year.
I agree with Mitch.....little or nothing to do with the coach. IMO......little or nothing to do with the organization either.
-Patrick Willis
His tender, size-13 feet -- "12? when they're bent" -- can no longer handle the grind of NFL practices let alone the demands of game day.
Willis announced Tuesday he will retire after his 2014 season was cut short by a toe injury that required surgery and sore feet that make everything more of a challenge.
-Justin Smith is 35. A lot of guys retire at 35 or younger.
Unlike Willis and Borland, however, Smith’s decision is not a surprise. And he was decidedly unsentimental about the end of his career.
“You come in, you go out, everything moves on,” the veteran lineman nicknamed “Cowboy” said.
- Chris Borland
"I just honestly want to do what's best for my health," Borland said. "From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it's worth the risk."
Borland cited a fear of developing a brain disease like former NFL players Mike Webster, Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling, all of whom were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is caused by repeated head trauma, after their deaths.
I don't see anything about the circumstances of the above three that would indicate a failure from the coach to "inspire" them to keep playing. I think it is nothing more than coincidence, especially for 49er fans that all three guys decided to do it in the same off season. Nothing more.
