OT: Marcus Lattimore Retires

Submitted by taistreetsmyhero on

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11827168/marcus-lattimore-san-francisco-49ers-retires-nfl

Feel so bad for the man. Whenever you see a gruesome injury like his, you hope that person can recover and go on to have a productive career a la Willis McGahee. But the reality is that people can get hurt real bad in football and sometimes the storybook ending never happens.

AlaskanYeti

November 5th, 2014 at 7:13 PM ^

Not necessarily. Gore had knee injury issues a few times in college too. It's basically what gave Clinton Portis and McGahee their chances to play during the same time period at Miami. Talk about a stacked roster with all three of those guys on it at one time!

GoBlueInMpls

November 5th, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^

Very unfortunate for him. I was hoping he would come back from the injury/injuries and enjoy a long, successful NFL career. He will do well regardless. He seems like a quality guy with a good head on his shoulders. I know the University of SC will welcome him back with open arms in whatever capacity he wants. Maybe he will find his niche in coaching. Best of luck to him in whatever he decides to do.

Brewers Yost

November 5th, 2014 at 7:18 PM ^

As a 49ers fan I thought he was an excellent draft pick. Similar to the Frank Gore pick. After they drafted Hyde I figured he wasn't going to make it. I just hope he used the money he has received wisely.

dakotapalm

November 5th, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^

Yep. Remember this story when you hear some self-righteous talking head bloviating about staying in school. Get your money when you can kids.

Also, real nice how that three-year rule works for the NFL to get a free minor league. Lattimore could have earned income AT LEAST after his freshman year.

mjv

November 5th, 2014 at 9:38 PM ^

This is some serious self-righteous BS.  If an NFL team decides that a player is physically ready for the NFL, then they draft him (if they have the chance).  If they don't think he is ready, they will pass.  Each NFL entire departments designed to vet players. They are far better equipped to determine if someone is ready than you are or a standard rule that doesn't factor in a single aspect about the player.
 
Lattimore should sue the NFL for lost wages due to this rule.  He probably has no standing, but this issue needs to be brought to the forefront.  The NFL backed down from Barry Sanders when he was going to leave after three years.  They won against Clarett and Mike Williams in 2003 (or there abouts) when they tried to come out after two years becasue they were ineligible to play college football.  But a sympathetic figure such as Lattimore might have some success in getting the rule changed.  Or Todd Gurley if he had challenged the system prior to his memorabilia signing.
 
The rule is crap. 

oriental andrew

November 6th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^

I met a Navy officer who was a pediatric ER doc. He said that all branches of the military are sending more and more pediatric specialists overseas as they've acknowledged that these 18-19-20 year olds are not yet fully developed and still benefit more from having peds doctors take care of them in many cases. Particularly true for the ortho cases, I believe. 

Danwillhor

November 5th, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^

I hope he has something to fall back on beyond SC very likely hooking him up in some capacity. Does he qualify for any NFL retirement benefits? Maybe based on being on a roster for 3 years (IIRC)?

alum96

November 5th, 2014 at 8:33 PM ^

I always found it strange that football - the most brutal sport - is the one wthout guaranteed contracts.  Meanwhile a bunch of NBA and MLB guys sit at home or in the NBA at the far end of the bench never playing, making guaranteed millions.

I get it logistically but the shelf life of the NFL player can end so quickly it seems like a cruel twist.

bronxblue

November 5th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^

The NFL has been incredibly good at convincing people that "money-saving policies that favor billionaire owners" are good things for the players and promote "competition" for each team.  The fact that most guys get their signing bonus and that's it has always seemed absurd to me.

Inuyesta

November 5th, 2014 at 10:25 PM ^

Yeah, I mean obviously the other side of it is that the owners in the NFL are going to fight the hardest against guaranteed contracts because they have to have the biggest rosters, and any of the players can lose their career in a second.  But yeah, the NFLPA is shockingly weak, hard to imagine why that would be.

bronxblue

November 5th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^

Feel bad for the kid.  He really was one of the best college RBs when he was healthy, and I'm sure would have carved out a nice career in the NFL.

Magnus

November 6th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^

On a note unrelated to injury, I always thought Lattimore was overrated as a college player. He didn't have great numbers (career 4.8 yards/carry), only reached 1,000 yards one time (as a freshman), and never looked explosive to me, even before that injury. I rooted for him to come back from that nasty leg injury, but I don't know that he would have been a quality NFL player even if he had remained healthy.