Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead’s retirement was precipitated by a lingering knee injury that wasn’t getting better, left him unable to walk under his own power after games and forced him to use pain medication. Armstead said on the Nightcap Show that he decided to walk away when he realized, “I just can’t perform at the same level.” The 33-year-old Armstead played 12 NFL seasons but said a knee injury that he initially suffered in 2015 never fully healed. “I’ve been dealing with a knee since my third year in the league,” Armstead said. “I didn’t see a practice field at all, and not because I didn’t want to or the Dolphins just wanted me to rest. It’s like I literally couldn’t walk. After a game on Sunday, I wouldn’t be able to walk on my own, under my own power, until Wednesday, Thursday. So I was only able to play under the pain meds. I couldn’t put any pressure on my knee, so it was like, I can’t keep doing that to myself.” Armstead’s story is a common one, as life in the NFL often takes a painful toll on its players. Eventually, Armstead decided he couldn’t do it anymore.
As a former lineman, I don't think most fans realize that OL is creating highlight-reel collisions every single play of the game. On run plays, I had a quick release and I'd be hitting that defender as hard as humanly possible, preferably around the waist area or below, and driving through him. Meanwhile, the defender is grabbing me and trying to beat my leverage with speed and technique, knocking me off balance while I'm trying to bulldoze him. That's 25-35 times a game and maybe double that in the average practice where someone is getting lit up. On pass plays, you're still trying to stay low but upright at the same time, and hoping to throw a Mike Tyson knockout punch with your hands below your chest and open palms. The goal is to close distance on a guy that's doing basically what I did on run plays....he's trying to run me over and deal as much physical damage as possible. Then you have the jerks of the league, that will try to grab your manhood, punch your knees, knee your ribs, pinch your arms and stomach, or whatever they can get ahold of when you go to the ground. I'd take pride in trying to hurt those types of players because they weren't playing by the rules. Needless to say, when you're 250+ pounds in college and 300+ in the pros, those few hundred collisions per week never lead to a healthy season. I always had bruises, something was always sore, something to get taped or wrapped before a game. And helmets to the knees just happened, most of the time not even on purpose...you just have two guys trying to stay low and when a big guy goes above your pads, he's literally pressing you down into his knees. Not sure why I shared all of that; just know that either side of the line is like an unarmed gladiator in the colosseum. It's fast, physical, and very violent for around 2-5 seconds per play.
