Moffitt was also a great football player. He was drafted 11th in the 3rd round in the 2011 draft out of Wisconsin. He was also a very smart guy and known to meditate quite a few times a day. According to Bleacher Report, this past offseason Moffitt was traded to the Denver Broncos after the original trade to the Cleveland Browns was rescinded. Since then he has struggled to work his way into the lineup and has since been the backup right guard behind Louis Vasquez.
On the surface this looks like a normal situation of a player quitting after failing to make it into the starting lineup. However, it is not. There is a lot more to this situation, which should have Roger Goodell shaking in his boots. I mentioned earlier that Moffitt was a smart man and this decision might prove to be the smartest decision he has ever made. This all started when Moffitt failed to show up to practice to which he then later tweeted “Football was fun but my head hurts-haha kidding roger goodell. I'm on to new things, thanks to everyone along the way!!!” However, he went on to tell reporters that he just was not happy and basically I interpreted it as him being scared.
What does a
football player have to be afraid of? Easy. Concussions and brain injuries.
Moffitt stated that he wanted to leave before he suffered an injury that would
cause his future to be unhappy. I’m sure Moffitt has seen and heard what
happened to Mike Webster and how it practically ruined his life when he got
older. Moffitt told the Associated Press, via ESPN.com, “And I think it’s
really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness
for money."
Moffitt
understood the possible outcomes or side effects of a long NFL career and just
did not want to go through with it.
What does this
mean for the NFL? I personally feel like more and more players are starting to
feel the same thing I felt when I listened to Patrick Hruby speak at Drexel’s
Sport Management Student Union Sport for Social Change Conference - that
feeling being a mixture of fright and panic. After hearing Hruby mention the
debacle that the NFL is in and what they have done in this possible conspiracy,
I would never let my future children play football and it makes me happy to
know that I quit football when I did.
Hruby
mentioned over and over in his presentation that we aren’t asking the right
questions. My questions now would be: What’s next? Does the NFL make a
statement about Moffitt quitting the NFL? Will there be more players who
join Moffitt? How long before this and he is used in the hundreds of cases that
former players have against the NFL? How long before the football we know and
love isn’t the same football?
Lindrit Shkodra is originally from Diber, Macedonia but lives in Maple Shade, NJ. He is a sophomore in the Sports Management program and is currently the Treasurer of the Drexel Sport Management Student Union. He has work experience with Ron Jaworski's Celebrity Golf Challenge and Ridgewells Catering at the 2013 U.S. Open. Follow Lindrit on Twitter @LindritShkodra.
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