Donald retirement at age 30 would be a major blow to NFL
Just a few hours before the start of Super Bowl 56, one of the most unusual things to ever happen in the moments immediately before the big game occurred: a gigantic piece of news broke. It was about Aaron Donald.
NBC analyst Rodney Harrison said during the pregame show that Donald told him if he won a Super Bowl, he would strongly consider retiring. That is called burying the lead. Then, minutes before the game started, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya said the same thing, except with even more definitiveness.
It’s difficult to put into words how odd this moment was. NBC clearly didn’t understand the gargantuan nature of its scoop, otherwise it wouldn’t have buried it deep into its broadcast.
After dominating the Super Bowl, as he does most games he has ever played in the NFL, Donald had numerous opportunities to deny he was considering retirement. He didn’t.
And it is a huge story. One with potential reverberations that can span years, if not decades. The story isn’t that Donald is retiring. The story is the fact he’s even considering it shows you just how destructive the game is to someone who seems indestructible.
Donald is just 30. This is only his eighth season. Two decades ago, 30 was at the end of an NFL career. Now, that age is the middle of one. If he wanted, Donald could probably play another five years, at least, at the stratospheric level he does now.
One thing Harrison mentioned was Donald wants to leave with his health fully intact, and this is where the story gets really interesting and potentially predictive.
What we’re seeing is that for every Tom Brady who wants to play as long as possible, there are others, even great ones like Donald, who play at positions where the destruction of their bodies is more pronounced, and they don’t want to see their ligaments and bones disintegrate. So they think of leaving the game on top, instead of on crutches.
Barry Sanders did it. Calvin Johnson retired at 30. Vikings runner Robert
Smith retired at 28. Rob Gronkowski retired early, too (and then came back). Andrew Luck retired early. There are others.
“I’ve got a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old, and I can run with them and chase them without a problem,” Smith said. “That’s what I wanted to be able to do. It has been a blessing to have good health.”
Johnson said he experienced at least nine concussions in his career. Johnson and Hall of Famer Michael Strahan both talked about how mangled their fingers were because of football. Smith had three knee surgeries in eight years. By the time Jets receiver Al Toon retired at 29 in 1992, he’d already suffered nine diagnosed concussions.
Donald retiring now would be one of the best examples yet of a player looking out for his long-term health by leaving the game he loves early.
To me, the three greatest defensive players of all time are, in this order: Lawrence Taylor, Deion Sanders and Reggie White.
We can argue for days about which great defensive players rank where, but that’s a pretty solid group.
And you know what, Donald right now is probably right after White. It could also be argued that he’s better than all of
them. Than any defensive player ever. That’s not recency bias. Look at what Donald has done. He is on the 2010s AllDecade team, is a three-time defensive player of the year, played in eight Pro Bowls and now has a Super Bowl ring.
Imagine if Donald played at this level for another three to five years, which if he didn’t retire would be highly possible. At that point, we’d be talking about Donald the way many do about Jerry Rice. Rice is viewed by a lot of people in the league, as well as football historians, to be the greatest football player of all time.
Donald could surpass Rice. That’s not science fiction. That’s very real.
And Donald surely knows this, so imagine how his body must feel for him to consider giving up that type of historical importance.
We don’t yet know what Donald will do. What we do know is, again, he hasn’t shut down the retirement talk when he easily could.
“I’m just in the moment,” Donald said after the game, when asked about retirement. “I’m going to enjoy this with my teammates and my family for a few days.”
If he does retire, it would be the most impactful one since Sanders.
If not bigger.