Is Joe Burrow the next Andrew Luck?

[18IsTheMan]

He sounded quite melancholic in his presser yesterday. Not at all enthused about playing football. "You know, if I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? That's the mindset I'm trying to bring to the table." "It's certainly something you have to think about," Burrow said when asked about risk-reward element of playing through injury.

Interestingly, he's the same age (29) Andrew Luck was when Luck decided the toll football was taking on his body wasn't worth it.

 

[Piscis]

He sounded quite melancholic in his presser yesterday. Not at all enthused about playing football. "You know, if I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? That's the mindset I'm trying to bring to the table." "It's certainly something you have to think about," Burrow said when asked about risk-reward element of playing through injury.

Interestingly, he's the same age (29) Andrew Luck was when Luck decided the toll football was taking on his body wasn't worth it.

I have wondered if becoming an NFL player is similar to other jobs where someone turns their passion/hobby into their job, like someone who loves fishing becoming a fishing guide. I know people who have become guides and found that it sort of ruined fishing for them because their favorite pastime/hobby had become their job and brought the stress and pressure of a job with it.

Playing in the NFL is a job and a very demanding, competitive job. An NFL player cannot "mail it in" very much before he loses his job and he is expected to play through the pain of minor injuries. Someone who grew up from around age 8 or 9 loving the game of football and loving playing with teammates might find playing football as a job no longer fun or enjoyable. NFL players, at least the ones with any money management ability at all, should be set for life financially after a handful of seasons in the NFL, so money wouldn't be the motivator some think it would be.