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Ravens OL John Urschel Retires at 26


pwny

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http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20170808/baltimore-ravens-offensive-lineman-john-urschel-retires-abruptly

""This morning John Urschel informed me of his decision to retire from football," coach John Harbaugh said in a statement. "We respect John and respect his decision. We appreciate his efforts over the past three years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

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3 minutes ago, MightyMouse07 said:

He is working on a PHD at MIT. He will be fine after football. I think that study is going to hit home for some of these players. They are really going to have to consider how much it is worth in the end. 

Good for him. Although you have to think a lot of players didn't make it through college on the back of strong academic skills, they've also proven historically to be bad at investing. Hopefully that's changing. 

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10 minutes ago, texans_uk said:

Good for him. Although you have to think a lot of players didn't make it through college on the back of strong academic skills, they've also proven historically to be bad at investing. Hopefully that's changing. 

Agreed. There are certainly those players coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds where this is their big chance to make money for them and their families to rise out of poverty and they are willing to sacrifice their bodies, brains, and lives in order to have a better future for those around them. I think we will see more players who have that higher academic background reflecting on how much it is worth playing. 

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6 minutes ago, IDOG_det said:

I mean, this makes sense, he's a freaking genius. No point in ruining your brain.

I understand where you're coming from and I had the same thought, but it's...callous isn't the right word but just odd that we can compartmentalize stuff like that. Urschel is really smart and really successful, so he should take care of his brain. A lot of other NFL players aren't smart, some born that way, some never applied themselves in school, so it's less of a loss if they have all of the in-life side effects of CTE or other brain damage.

To be clear, I'm not knocking you or arguing or anything. It just felt odd to assign a different valuation to the mental health of a player based on their intelligence.

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8 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I understand where you're coming from and I had the same thought, but it's...callous isn't the right word but just odd that we can compartmentalize stuff like that. Urschel is really smart and really successful, so he should take care of his brain. A lot of other NFL players aren't smart, some born that way, some never applied themselves in school, so it's less of a loss if they have all of the in-life side effects of CTE or other brain damage.

To be clear, I'm not knocking you or arguing or anything. It just felt odd to assign a different valuation to the mental health of a player based on their intelligence.

It would make sense for other players to retire as well, but some guys don't have the opportunity to pursue other careers like he does. For some players the sport is all they know. I don't think that really places a different valuation on their mental health or implies it's less of a loss if they suffer from CTE symptoms. They just don't have the alternative options that someone like Urschel has, so it makes more sense for them to stick with football.

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16 minutes ago, IDOG_det said:

It would make sense for other players to retire as well, but some guys don't have the opportunity to pursue other careers like he does. For some players the sport is all they know. I don't think that really places a different valuation on their mental health or implies it's less of a loss if they suffer from CTE symptoms. They just don't have the alternative options that someone like Urschel has, so it makes more sense for them to stick with football.

What you say is a sad truth. It would be nice to say that anybody retire in this league and make it fine through life since they have a college education, family, friends etc. but that's not always the case, or its not the reality of the situation. I've seen plenty of interviews where players or ex players say football was the only thing that mattered to them growing up.

For Urschel, I'm glad he's making an informed decision. He has so much to look forward to in life.

Back to football

How big of a loss is this to Baltimore? Do they have an adequate  replacement for him?

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At this point, I'm just trying to figure out how long it takes before the Ravens have nobody left on the roster available to play this year if they don't sign anyone. I feel like there's something in news about them losing someone to injury / reitrement / whatever all the time. 

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6 minutes ago, Forge said:

At this point, I'm just trying to figure out how long it takes before the Ravens have nobody left on the roster available to play this year if they don't sign anyone. I feel like there's something in news about them losing someone to injury / reitrement / whatever all the time. 

Following the TT school of thought...

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13 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

How big of a loss is this to Baltimore? Do they have an adequate  replacement for him?

The Ravens are moving away from a ZBS and that didn't suit Urschel's football abilities.

He was slated to compete for the open starting spot at C but most fans and reporters had Ryan Jensen leading that battle going into TC. It does add to the uncertainty that its the Ravens OL though with just 2 spots truly locked down (LT and RG)

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