As the 2016-17 NFL season opens up next weekend, a new era of players will be ushered into the league. Yet the topic of conversation this season won’t be the newly minted quarterbacks and running backs of the future, but the void of the veteran players who inconspicuously disappeared into thin air during the offseason. 

Detriot Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and Green Bay Packers receiver Greg Jennings, to name but a few, have settled into their early retirement. This comes during an age where players have continued to stretch their careers well past their prime, such as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. 

The question that is on the minds of all sports laureates and critics alike is this: Is the football culture of America slowly sliding into an American pastime? In the back of each coach’s mind must lay the question of whether there will be enough players remaining in the football draft to choose from in 10 years. 

Players around the league have constantly cited injuries and, more specifically, concussions as reasons for calling it quits early into their career. Johnson, who signed an eight-year, $132 million contract as early as 2012, broke off his commitment because “it was just body. I was just tired of it, fed up. Just had enough.”

 He had broken the single-season in the same year as he signed his absurd contract and, a mere two years later, decided to hang up his cleats because he was tired? According to many sports experts, Johnson was referring more specifically to the head injuries he had sustained in recent years, something that has made waves in the NFL circles.

Lynch has been similarly cryptic in his retirement statements, refusing to address his reasoning. Lynch had been injured during his final season but had only missed one game in the previous four seasons combined. He had broken countless franchise records and certainly had a few years left in his tank. Yet injuries and the threat of post-NFL complications prevailed and thwarted Lynch’s love for the game. 

More and more players are realizing the consequences of each tackle they endure, especially as movies like “Concussion”, which profiled the adverse affects of NFL head injuries, educate the masses. 

Although most brushed aside President Obama, who stated that he if he had a son he would not allow him to play football, the President’s statement represented much more than a non-expert’s inconsequential opinion. The one man who represents the interests of the United States population effectively and explicitly set into the peoples’ minds the danger of the game of football. 

As the NFL moves forward, commissioner Goodell must address these issues head on in order to save the game from national disposal. In the coming years, the game of football will be drastically altered in a way that will either attract new players or disengage avid fans. The job of commissioner Goodell is to find that balance and implement it before it is too late. 

—Jerry Miller