Future health worries: Cincinnati Bengals guard Jacob Bell defends decision of premature retirement
Former Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive guard, Jacob Bell, has defended his wisdom of giving preference to his long-term health concerns over current financial incentives in the decision to call it quits from the National Football League (NFL) rather prematurely.
The retirement, which Bell said was a result of the worries related to concussion and other injuries that former NFL players have faced in the aftermath of their professional careers, has surprised many.
The player had recently signed with the Bengals, but changed his mind later and decided against continuing his career.
The incident of suicide committed by the former league player, Junior Seau, directly influenced his decision.
Irrespective of the remarks by different people, Bell called it a "risk vs. reward factor."
He said:
"A lot have said - the No. 1 thing people have said to me is, 'Your health is more important than the game. Your health is more important than the money.' "
He added:
"I mean, we have so much more to look forward to after we're done with football that you know to have something like the brain trauma and the CTE stuff is such a factor."
Some commentators believe that at the end of the day the matter might not be as controversial or surprising at all, given that the issue of concussion has been making headlines every now and then.
The concerns related to concussions with regard to NFL policies on players’ protection and safety have been highlighted by more than 1,000 former players, who have waged a legal fight against the league over NFL's policies.
Last year, the controversial handling of the concussion suffered by Cleveland Browns’ quarterback, Colt McCoy, proved to be the inflection point.
Apparently, the team’s trainers and medical staff let McCoy return to the field without inspecting his head injury.
Following strong criticism from the media and former game officials, the league reviewed the team’s facilities at their headquarters.
Even though the inquiry found a system failure at the team’s facility, Browns successfully escaped the possibility of a punishment over this lapse.
Furthermore, James Harrison, Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker, who had hit McCoy, was suspended for only one game. Almost all commentators agreed that the penalty was insufficient and too lenient to discipline a player like him, who had been found guilty
five times of the same foul in two years.
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