I Wonder What it is Like to be Released in the NFL

[Albany,n.y.]

I got fired at 25 from the career I finally wanted to work at a year and a quarter into my career.  It was devastating & depressed and I even spent a few months living in my parents' basement-literally.  I imagine some of these players get really depressed and will spend months feeling bad & lost like I was at that age.  Eventually, they either try again or look for another career.  It must be really devastating to the guys who didn't come close to graduating from college & have no skills other than football.  The worst cases end up lost for years and end up dying young like James Hardy.  

 

[Soda Popinski]

I think that in the preseason it's totally different from during the season.  During the Season I think the GM calls you up, and if you are at the facility they sit you down and let you know, if it's a bye week or some instance where you are not at or near the facility they probably just call and have your stuff sent to you.    

[JohnC]

5 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

My dog is one of my 8.

Induce your dog to have puppies so then your circle can be expanded. 

 

side note: Canisius won its opening game against Bucknell. 

[Augie]

53 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

My dog is one of my 8.

 

I’m on my way to pick up my son’s dog. There you go....my whole list! They have to be my friends, I’m the guy who knows how to get the food in their bowls! 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

12 hours ago, Augie said:

 

This is just Kirby’s way of bragging that he has three pretty close friends. My wife calls you guys my “imaginary internet friends”. Maybe he’s met these guys, maybe he just has their rookie cards. We’ll never know the truth.   

 

?

But I know some people who know some people who robs some people...does that count?

 

 

 

[CaptnCoke11]

Hard for me to feel bad because they chose that profession.  They know going in it’s a real possibility they don’t make it.  

[Tyrod's friend]

4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I actually have 8 friends Aug!! ?

he would have said ten, but he didn't realize you can use your thumbs to count.

 

[reddogblitz]

I'm going to say it probably feels a lot like it does for anyone when dreams die.  Most of us I would think set our hearts on something and gave it our all as a young person only to come up short.  It's happened to me a few times. sucks.  But he's a smart guy with a college degree.  He will find something else.

[mrags]

5 hours ago, JMF2006 said:

 

Maybe if your a top draft pick or high value UFA that doesn't pan out.

 

But if your a mid to late draft pick or a UDFA things are not as sweet.

If you are making league minimum you are still clearing like $1m so I’m sure you’ll be fine. 

 

I had a buddy in high in high school that was drafted by the Marlins. Signed his million dollar signing bonus right in the high school cafeteria. Ended up ending his career in his first offseason. I’m sure his paid off house, paid off cars, paid off toys were enough for him at 18 years old. 

[ndirish1978]

I imagine it feels akin to dropping a clothes iron on your gonads. Probably not the best feeling. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

On 11/13/2018 at 4:51 PM, DrDawkinstein said:

You ever watch Hard Knocks? Or the Amazon's All or Nothing? They show it pretty detailed. From what I've seen, they don't do a lot of cleaning out afterwards. Once you hand in your playbook    iPad and have the talk, they go right out of the building. But I imagine there is some time, before or after, to clean out a locker.

 

These players are all human, and I think it seems/feels more like any other regular firing, just like you or I would experience, when they are in the moment. And it usually goes directly to a call to their agent to see if they can find another job, just like I might call a recruiter. For most of these guys, it IS a job. And it's a lot like any of us would experience when losing a job.

 

Fixed it for you!

[McBean]

I can tell you that I got released in pro baseball (AA)  and it sucks. 

[RobH063]

19 hours ago, LSHMEAB said:

On 11/13/2018 at 5:28 PM, LABillzFan said:

While I agree that there must be a lot of stress getting cut in a highly visible field, I think I'd struggle personally with sitting at home at the end of an ass-busting work day, turning on the TV, and finding three people sitting around a table on ESPN talking about how I should be fired from my job. Driving to work, listening to sports radio, and having people from my city talk about how much I suck at my job.

 

Not sure how I'd deal with that, but I'm gonna go with "probably not well."

 

The greats don't allow that nonsense to affect them. The mental fortitude to either use negative attention as fuel or dismiss it entirely is what separates them from the pack.

 

Those that would be "devastated" probably didn't have the mental make-up to be great to begin with.

 

Life is not fair. That's a lesson everyone should learn at a young age.

 

Like politics, professional sports is not for the faint of heart.

Not just the Media with Politics and Professional Sports anymore. Anyone can be targeted these days on Social Media. I knew a young woman who innocently started dating a guy who had broken up with a psycho. The psycho girl was relentless in her bashing this young lady to the point that she deleted all of her social media accounts and moved out of the area. She couldn't handle all of the threats and being defamed for no reason. She didn't even know this other girl and her life was being ruined. Even though the psycho girl got arrested for harassment and there was an order of protection put in place, it didn't stop her at all. You aren't going to stop crazy! If you ask me, social media has more negatives than what it's worth to have an account on any of the platforms.

[IDBillzFan]

2 minutes ago, RobH063 said:

Not just the Media with Politics and Professional Sports anymore. Anyone can be targeted these days on Social Media. I knew a young woman who innocently started dating a guy who had broken up with a psycho. The psycho girl was relentless in her bashing this young lady to the point that she deleted all of her social media accounts and moved out of the area. She couldn't handle all of the threats and being defamed for no reason. She didn't even know this other girl and her life was being ruined. Even though the psycho girl got arrested for harassment and there was an order of protection put in place, it didn't stop her at all. You aren't going to stop crazy! If you ask me, social media has more negatives than what it's worth to have an account on any of the platforms.

 

During this last election, a politician's marketing team used names of sexual abuse victims in an advertisement. The marketing team simply pulled the names off of Facebook from a search, and never bothered to talk to any of the people identified in the ad. They're ass deep in lawsuits, but the damage is done because many of the victims didn't realize their comments were public, so they were outed to their abusers.

 

In other cases, journalists would cite a twitter post someone made as part of a story, and reference their name and location. In political stories, it prompted protesters to track them down and make their life hellish.

 

If you're going to use social media at this point, you're best served posting "Go Bills!" or "Nice recipe, Giada!" or "Happy Holidays!" and leave it at that.

[cba fan]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 4:26 PM, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

If you've still got the age, and you're decent, there's a job for you somewhere, just whether or not you're willing to take a job with that pay. Whether that's a backup, or arena, or CFL. Practice squad. Even some sort of coaching or other oppertunity at your college. So probably not.

 

I think about this with baseball players who are borderline between MLB and AAA, or whatever level. Constantly being called up and sent down.

getting called up the a MLB club roster is gold in this day and age.

 

One day on a MLB roster and you get a lifetime of free healthcare. https://benefitsbclp.com/major-league-baseball-pension-and-healthcare-benefits/

 

41 days and you q for a pension.

 

 

[apuszczalowski]

its probably similar to get fired from any other job, you get sat down in an office and told they are letting you go, wish you well and lead you out of the building.

From what I have seen, most places today don't let you go back to get your stuff, they have people doing that when you are in the office being let go. Theres a chance the NFL may be different and let you get your belongings and say good bye, but theres a chance they have people doing that for you too.

 

In most cases, the players know they are on the bubble and may have had their agents give them info about it.

3 hours ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

Fixed it for you!

I think your wrong, doesn't the NFL have a deal with Microsoft for use of the Surface pros? They use them on the sidelines, I would assume they use them for playbooks too

 

Knowing their luck, the Bills and Browns still probably use Blackberry playbooks

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

13 hours ago, apuszczalowski said:

its probably similar to get fired from any other job, you get sat down in an office and told they are letting you go, wish you well and lead you out of the building.

From what I have seen, most places today don't let you go back to get your stuff, they have people doing that when you are in the office being let go. Theres a chance the NFL may be different and let you get your belongings and say good bye, but theres a chance they have people doing that for you too.

 

In most cases, the players know they are on the bubble and may have had their agents give them info about it.

I think your wrong, doesn't the NFL have a deal with Microsoft for use of the Surface pros? They use them on the sidelines, I would assume they use them for playbooks too

 

Knowing their luck, the Bills and Browns still probably use Blackberry playbooks

Before I was "Formally from Rochester"  I worked there at Kodak, they were laying off so many they let you stick around for a month after being told you were laid off with full access to everything some were in areas where they actually were expected to work, others could spend all the time looking for a new job..  Initially they were walking people out, but found 99% of the people did nothing bad so let them stay.

 

 

Yes you're correct, I was just thinking more in terms of not a traditional paper playbook anymore.  I don't even know if they bother to get the Surfaces back as much as just immediately terminate the account.  That would be an interesting job to have.  Being told the person is being cut, terminate the account before the player even knows.

[LSHMEAB]

15 hours ago, cba fan said:

getting called up the a MLB club roster is gold in this day and age.

 

One day on a MLB roster and you get a lifetime of free healthcare. https://benefitsbclp.com/major-league-baseball-pension-and-healthcare-benefits/

 

41 days and you q for a pension.

 

 

Ha. My cousin was up for 40 days! Either intentional or horrible coincidence.

 

He's still tinkering around in the Giants organization, but he's never gonna get a 41'st day.

[KD in CA]

On 11/14/2018 at 3:44 PM, McBean said:

I can tell you that I got released in pro baseball (AA)  and it sucks. 

 

I always thought the scene in Bull Durham where Costner gets released did a fantastic job capturing the raw emotions of that moment.

[LSHMEAB]

If you're Sam Bradford, it's kinda like robbing a bank with no repurcussions.