“I no longer wish to put my body at risk for the sake of entertainment.” Those were the words of now-former NFL running back, Rashard Mendenhall, who recently retired at the age of 26. His reasons for walking away from this “dream job” cite him wanting to live his own life.
Here are Rashard’s own words:
I decided not to hold a press conference because I didn’t want to have to say things that were cliché. I’ve done enough of that since I’ve been playing football. I actually didn’t really plan on saying anything about my retirement at all. I just kind of wanted to disappear. The fact that I was done playing would’ve been clear once some time had passed, and I hadn’t signed back with the Cardinals or any other team. Maybe people would’ve thought I couldn’t get another job. Either way, I was okay with the idea of fading to black, and my legacy becoming “What ever happened to that dude Rashard Mendenhall? He was pretty good for a few years, then he just vanished.”
Since retiring Mendenhall, who made more than $13.8 million during his six-year career, joined the Writers Guild of America and worked as a writer on the first season of HBO’s “Ballers,” which aired its series premiere last Sunday.
“Ballers” is about an ex-NFL player who transitions to life as an agent. It stars Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and has been widely compared to the HBO breakout hit, “Entourage.”