5 NFL players who should retire
The NFL is a grueling league, and the physical toll it takes on the body can be difficult to understand unless you’ve played the sport. This is what makes those players who continue into their 40's all the more remarkable, not to mention rare.
Tom Brady is currently the oldest active NFL player at 44 years of age. However, there are some contemporaries of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter that are also advancing in years. Some players simply want to keep on playing, be that because of their love of the game, fear of the future, or the pursuit of a crowning glory.
Such displays of determination are admirable, they can also be difficult to watch, and there are clear examples of active players who should really be looking to retire with their best days now very much behind them.
Here are five such examples:
#1 – Jason Peters
Having been undrafted in the 2004 NFL Draft, Jason Peters has exceeded expectations. He has been a steady presence on the offensive lines of three NFL teams.
The Buffalo Bills gave Peters his first opportunity to play at the highest level and he repaid them with years of service, albeit on a consistently poor team. He finally had his moment of success in 2018 when the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl. Peters was a starting tackle, protecting Carson Wentz and Nick Foles.
Peters has had an excellent NFL career, blending consistency with determination to make teams regret not drafting him. However, the 2021 season saw Peters show his age, with his 40th birthday having arrived in January 2022.
The Chicago Bears wanted a veteran presence to secure their offensive line, but Peters simply isn’t the same player anymore. He allowed six sacks from his position, the 14th highest in the NFL in 2021, and couldn’t protect a doomed Bears offense.
Peters is currently a free agent looking for one last year in the NFL, but the reality is he might not be good enough anymore. He doesn’t have anything else to prove and playing a further year in one of the more trying physical positions on the field is simply foolish.
#2 – Jimmy Graham
Jimmy Graham’s career as an elite receiving option ended when the New Orleans Saints traded him to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for Max Unger. It was a deal that benefited absolutely nobody. The Seahawks have struggled to protect Russell Wilson ever since and Graham lost his effectiveness.
In three of his five seasons with the Saints, the 35-year-old scored at least 10 touchdowns. He has only managed the same feat once in the subsequent seven seasons away from Louisiana.
Max Unger was so solid he made the Jimmy Graham trade look OK. That Jimmy Graham trade should not look OK.
It was a waste of three years of his career, and his spell with the Packers didn’t show any notable improvement. Injuries finally caught up with the physical receiver in 2021, but he is now merely a run-of-the-mill tight end who teams look to on third and short. He isn’t the premier tight end he once was and every year he plays on is making it easy to forget how good he used to be.