In the NFL there is a very used expression when a player decides to fold, hang up your cleats, which has an easy translation: “hang up the boots.” For example, when running back Marshawn Lynch decided to quit football, he used an image on social media of his playing boots hanging.
Choosing when a player should retire is one of the most difficult decisions, although for the vast majority it is not always like that: a team cuts you or fires you and they simply stop calling you. On other occasions you are invited to retire, Peyton Manning, despite having a contract with Denver, after a painful last year, was invited to retire and thus avoid being cut. Others like John Elway decided to retire from the NFL in a big way: after winning the Super Bowl.
Cam Newton en los Panthers
Cam Newton He had a current contract with the Carolinians Panthers in March 2020, but Matt Rhule, the franchise’s new head coach – who also became a new owner at the time – made the decision to break with the first-place QB in 2011. The Cam Newton of the previous two seasons was a QB very physically impaired and weighed down by injuries.
Cam Newton found a place in July in the New England Patriots, in need of a veteran QB after the departure of Tom Brady. The quarterback, who signed a very modest contract with many variables by objectives, won the start to Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at the Training Camps. His start to the season wasn’t bad at all until he fell ill with COVID-19. After his return, he was no longer the same and was seriously exposed as a passer. Despite everything, the renewal for 2021 was won, although after the appearance of Mac Jones coupled with his unvaccinated status, he ended up being cut on the last day of August.
Without a team since then, no one took an interest in him until Sam Darnold he was injured and Carolina made the decision to hire him. What surprised everyone was not his return, but the exorbitant salary: 4.5 million guaranteed, for just eight games, for someone nobody wanted a week ago.
In his first game, Newton was used in plays in the red zone, after which he ended up scoring twice, his celebrations and his cry of “I’m back!”. After a discreet game against Washington, disaster struck in Miami. Newton signed an improper game for a professional agreeing with all those who consider him a walking ex-player.
Ben Roethlisberger and Los Steelers
In the offseason, the historic Pittsburgh quarterback Steelers he renegotiated his contract, creating a lot of salary space and leaving several million on the way to continue for an eighteenth season with his team. The Steelers have been delaying the succession of Big Ben and during the offseason they preferred to choose a running back in the Draft, renew the offensive line and rely on their great defense to continue a final year with the passer.
The starts were decent, but as the season progresses, the quarterback’s physical limitations are increasingly noticeable. Added to the null mobility it exhibits in the bag is an increasingly weak and imprecise arm, very serious errors in the readings and exasperating slowness. Ben Roethlisberger he is capable, on occasion, of executing a deep throw – if his line allows it – however, if he is forced to release the passes in a short time, his limitations are increasingly dramatic
Pittsburgh’s problem is that without the veteran passer they are still unable to win a game. Mason Rudolph He replaced Big Ben when he fell ill with COVID-19, and his game was a disaster: His team could not get past a draw against the worst franchise of the season, the Detroit Lions.
As soon as Roethlisberger was discharged, and despite not having trained for more than a week, he got on a plane to travel the United States from side to side and play in Los Angeles, with the balance of a defeat. The following week disaster struck, a visit to the Cincinnati Bengals who are proving to be a team to be reckoned with. The Bengals, with their young Joe Burrow and Joe Mixon humiliated the Steelers and their defense was primed with a Ben Roethlisberger who gives clear signs that he would be better retired.
The lesson: ignore the NFL’s “swan song”
The case of Roethlisberger occurs in too many occasions: the typical franchise that delays the relief of its QB and that many times it delays so as not to disturb him. It was a fact that Big Ben he was notably upset when the Steelers drafted Mason Rudolph, refusing even to be their guardian. Roethlisberger is now more of a huge problem than a minimal solution, although the real drama is that they have a much more serious problem: his possible replacement is even worse.
On the other hand, the case of Cam Newton is one of sudden necessity. The Panthers cannot be denied that they have tried multiple times, first signing Teddy Bridgewater and then making a trade for Sam Darnold, all to eventually have to bring Cam out of retirement.
Newton and Roethlisberger might have been right to stay out of the NFL by 2021. Neither of them wanted – or known when – to hang up their boots, preferring to listen and join in the “swan song.” In Cam’s case we already suspected it when he was cut off in August and no one showed the slightest interest in hiring him (until then). In the case of Big Ben, a terrible management in the search for a relief and preferring to trust the known bad than the good.
Do you think Ben Roethlisberger and Cam Newton still bring something to their teams and the NFL? We read you in the comments under this article and on our social networks.
