The Veteran Grind

*FAN SUBMISSION from Steve Siebenaler of Chicago, IL. Follow him on Twitter @ChatNFL and his page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ChatNFL.*

Courtesy: Yahoo Sports

Listening to NFL Network’s Rich Eisen’s interview with Brian Urlacher (http://richeisen.nfl.com/2013/05/22/rich-eisen-podcast-brian-urlacher-and-david-kohan/) brought to mind a great subject:  the veteran grind.  Every year veterans whose bodies are starting to recover from workouts less and less quickly are trying to keep their Pro Bowl status, starting job and/or very lucrative career.  They do this while every year a fresh pair of legs is drafted or signed via free agency to challenge their position in one way or another.

History serves up LB Bill Romanowski as a model for this struggle.  He played in a record 243 consecutive games at a position in which he was constantly in the middle of the action among the biggest players on the field.  He went over the edge (BALCO scandal) in gaining an advantage as his body was less and less able to fight off age.  Aside from the cutting edge supplements he used profusely, he also used his emotions (rage) to keep his edge and his job.  This led to one of his many fined incidents in which he threw a football at the crotch of THE master of using emotions as fuel on an NFL field, LB Bryan Cox.

Every player has different ways to find their advantage and walk within the rules of gaining their edge on teams whose ownership often find easy ways to replace them.  The easiest of all is replacing them with rookies and young players at a fraction of the cost.  James Harrison recently reported he spends $600,000 a year (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000169446/article/james-harrison-body-work-costs-up-to-600k-a-year) to maintain and function in the highly competitive NFL.  He was released by the Steelers this offseason to make way for less costly players, as was Urlacher (who took the news with rare humility in the podcast interview).

It’s always sad to see these aging players exit.  The lucky exit when on top (Elway, Lewis, Strahan), while others hung on far too long for another (or first) glimpse of playoff glory.  These warriors deserve the most respect in the league because they have suffered the most for it.  No one comes out of the NFL completely healthy and while they make a good amount of money, the average player is by no means “set for life”.  We owe the utmost admiration for any veteran in the league still active and still playing at a high level.  This is the Olympic level of American football and anyone that can maintain longevity and success in the NFL deserves a round of applause.