Denver Broncos’ Rod Smith Pondering Retirement, Hip Injury Slows Aging Receiver
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Denver Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith is seriously considering retiring because of a nagging hip injury. His surgically repaired left hip hurts more than ever and it hasn’t healed, thereby requiring more surgery in January. Yesterday, Rod sounded like retirement was not far off:
“Honestly, I don’t even like walking on it. It’s that bad right now to me, and it’s a matter of the hip socket has been bone-on-bone for a while. That’s (difficult), especially trying to play pro football on it. And, honestly, I think I did for a while without knowing it was probably doing more damage to it than good ….. I was always told you play this game as long as you can and if I’ve played my last football game, I did that. And so I’m ok with that.”
Let’s do the math. Rod is 37-years-old. He played in agonizing pain all of last season and has been unable to get a good night’s sleep for nearly a year. His hip was such a mess when he went in for his most recent surgery (10 months ago) — torn labrum, frayed cartilage, bone spurs, floating fragments — that his surgeon couldn’t believe he had played on it at all. He’s been rehabbing since his surgery but has been unable to get well enough to play. He needs to get out while he can still (barely) walk. And I know that’s not an easy thing for any player to do, especially one that loves the game as much as Rod does.
Rod has had quite a career. He’s gone from an unknown and undrafted wide receiver out of Missouri Southern into a Pro Bowler and a two-time Super Bowl champion. He’s given hope to any player who has to take the road less traveled to the NFL. His Denver Broncos records are numerous — leading in career receptions (849), receiving yards (11,389), touchdown catches (68), touchdowns (71) and 100-yard games (31). As much as I would love to see him keep playing, he’s done with NFL football. The body can only take so much abuse and his is beyond its limits.
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