49er LB Borland retires, citing safety concerns

[Ronfitch]

From the story lead:

"BERKELEY, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, one of the NFL's top rookies the past season, told "Outside the Lines" on Monday that he is retiring because of concerns about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma.

Borland, 24, said he notified the 49ers on Friday. He said he made his decision after consulting with family members, concussion researchers, friends and current and former teammates, as well as studying what is known about the relationship between football and neurodegenerative disease.

'I just honestly want to do what's best for my health," Borland told "Outside the Lines." "From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it's worth the risk.'"

Entire story at:
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... y-concerns

[JohnR]

Will be interesting to see if this is a growing trend. Play a couple years, deposit some big bucks, retire.

[Reaser]

Will be interesting to see if this is a growing trend. Play a couple years, deposit some big bucks, retire.

Way off topic, but your ridiculously small Tripuka 'avatar' cracks me up everytime I see it.

[NWebster]

Will be interesting to see if this is a growing trend. Play a couple years, deposit some big bucks, retire.

Way off topic, but your ridiculously small Tripuka 'avatar' cracks me up everytime I see it.

1) The avatar is awesome!, 2) This is a real shame, Borland was very instinctual and really had a fantastic half season at ILB, was looking forward to more of him. Would have to assume he has some prospects out of the game, as he cannot have earned that much yet and has never had an NFL concussion. 100% his rite, but feels like an overreaction to me.

[Reaser]

This is a real shame, Borland was very instinctual and really had a fantastic half season at ILB, was looking forward to more of him. Would have to assume he has some prospects out of the game, as he cannot have earned that much yet and has never had an NFL concussion. 100% his rite, but feels like an overreaction to me.

Always in position, though I didn't think he was as great of a tackler as his 'numbers' would suggest. A lot of those high number of tackles games were in losses with a lot of tackles seemingly (memory) coming down field - though he also saved medium gains from being long gains.

Enjoyed watching him play, unfortunately whenever he's mentioned the first thing I think of is him trying to block Wilson and instead Wilson blew him up and Borland got injured - which now makes that essentially the end/final 'moment' of his career.

[Ronfitch]

Dan Pompei wrote an interesting article - including interviews with Dave Robinson, Doug Plank, Warren Moon, Michael Dean Perry and Derrick Brooks - about Borland's decision, their views on his decision, their views on the difference in the eras in which they played, injuries and lifelong health concerns from their playing days:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2402 ... ment-trend

[rhickok1109]

It should be noted that he returned three-quarters of his signing bonus.

[ChrisBabcock]

There's a very interesting article in the latest ESPN the Magazine on Chris Borland.
This isn't the article but this summarizes it well...

http://www.ninersnation.com/2015/8/20/9 ... rientation