Nate Burleson Urged Jahvid Best To Retire from NFL
By Josh Hill
The future of running back Jahvid Best has been in flux for some time now, and despite missing an entire year last season we still don’t know when he’s ever going to take the field again. After suffering multiple concussions over the course of his college and very short pro career, Best’s head hasn’t been right since he was draft and even then it might have been a little loose.
Fans remain divided as to what Best should do but one of his teammates is saying he doesn’t want to see the game of football claim the life of a young and talented man like Best. Nate Burleson told NFL Total Access that he urged Jahvid Best to retire as there’s more to life and just a sport.
“I just told him, ‘Honestly I’d rather see you healthy at 65 than healthy at 25,’” Burleson said. “I just told him that if it was me I would shut it down. You’ve got so much more life to live, and even though I would love to have you on the field, I don’t want it to risk anything that has to do with your brain or possibly your post career.”
The Lions have yet to rule Best out for the season again but some believe it’s the least they can do to make sure he’s fully recovered from his head injuries. Some fear that Best may never recover and that every down of football he plays from here on is only going to destroy his brain even further. Best himself has yet to make a decision on whether to retire or continue his recover but Burleson thinks Best is going to hang it up.
“The reason I’m talking in past tense is because he’s going through a different type of concussion,” Burleson said of Best. “He didn’t have a ton of them, but the ones that he did have they were really powerful.”
There is no denying that Best is one heck of a running back, but if you need any further proof that he’s no longer fit for football, review the highlight of him receiving a massive concussion while still at California. No one can force Best to retire — well outside of NFL doctors– but it’s starting to look as though a career in the NFL just isn’t where Best belongs.