Everybody can calm down. John Urschel still thinks football is great. He just doesn’t have time for it anymore.
The 26-year-old Ravens offensive lineman stunned the league Thursday by announcing his retirement after three full seasons in the NFL.
Many interpreted the move as a reaction to a damning report released Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association linking football with brain damage. Urshcel, however, says that is not the case.
The brilliant mathematician, who holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mathematics from MIT, said in a statement released Thursday afternoon he is retiring to focus on his family and education.
“I’m excited to start working on my doctorate in mathematics full time at MIT,” Urschel said in the statement. “I’m looking forward to the chance to take courses that are only offered in the fall semester, while spending time with my fiancée and preparing myself for the new challenges that will come with fatherhood. We’re expecting our first child in December.”
While it might have seemed reasonable to attribute Urschel’s decision to the American Medical Association study, which found evidence of CTE in the brains of 110 of 111 former NFL players studied, that would have been a course reversal for a player who has defended the league in the past.
In 2015, Urschel wrote a piece in The Players Tribune on why he loves the game in the wake of 24-year-old Chris Borland’s retirement. Borland cited football’s long-term health effects in his retirement.
“I play because I love the game,” Urschel wrote in the article. “I love hitting people. There’s a rush you get when you go out on the field, lay everything on the line and physically dominate the player across from you. This is a feeling I’m (for lack of a better word) addicted to, and I’m hard-pressed to find anywhere else.”
It now looks like Urschel has kicked the addiction, though he spoke fondly of his time with the Ravens.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but I believe it was the right one for me,” Urschel said. “There’s no big story here, and I’d appreciate the right to privacy. I’m extremely grateful to the Ravens and blessed to have been able to play the game I love at the highest level. It is a great game.”