The 49ers look to plan-B learning rookie standout retiring
Only a month removed from the Super Bowl, we’ve seen an abundance of retirement announcements from various NFL players. The most shocking in our opinion was revealed tonight, when San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland announced his retirement on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
After months of researching concussions issues and seeing how past players have had problems with head trauma due to long term blows to the head, he ultimately made the decision at just 24 years of age. When veteran Patrick Willis (also announced his retirement) went down last year, Borland had a breakout year with 108 combined tackles. Continuing his play from collegiate years for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Chris was getting high praise at the time but feared for future brain injury. He notified the team on Friday in a statement saying,
“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health. From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk. I feel largely the same, as sharp as I’ve ever been, for me it’s wanting to be proactive. I’m concerned that if you wait till you have symptoms, it’s too late. … There are a lot of unknowns. I can’t claim that X will happen. I just want to live a long healthy life, and I don’t want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise”.
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