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It is not for everyone.
Bill Parcells has often said that playing in the NFL is “not for the well-suited”.
The physical and mental toll of an NFL training camp can break even the strongest of men, and it does.
If you enjoy being pushed to the brink of exhaustion, both physically and mentally, by the scorching summer heat, while getting shit beaten up – all with the pressure of trying to earn a spot on the list – then it is your vocation.
Zach Fulton, a 29-year-old guard who the Giants signed on to a one-year, $ 1.075 million contract during the offseason, decided that was no longer his calling. He informed head coach Joe Judge on Thursday night that he was retiring because his body just couldn’t take the stress anymore.
Fulton’s retirement raised eyebrows because he was the third Giants player to retire suddenly in the previous four days.
A day earlier, Joe Looney, a 30-year-old center the team hoped to bring depth behind starter Nick Gates, informed the judge he was retiring. And two days before that, on Monday, 29-year-old linebacker Todd Davis followed suit.
Is this a sign that Judge’s training camp is too tough?
Absolutely not.
In fact, for those of us of a certain age who have covered the league since the days when two-day training camp practices were the norm (they were rejected by the NFLPA prior to the 2012 season). for “player safety”), today’s camps seem rather tame by comparison.
That Fulton, Davis and Looney decided to shut it down is neither a question of tenacity and determination nor a referendum on the judge’s inhumane practices.
“I’m not in Zach’s mind, and I don’t know why he decided to do what he did,” Giants reserve offensive lineman Jonotthan Harrison told The Post after practice. Friday. “Training camp is mentally, physically and sometimes emotionally exhausting. The saying sounds cliché, but you have to cross it. I’m not saying that in relation to [Fulton’s decision to retire], it’s just the camp in general. ”
I asked Harrison, who is in his seventh season in the NFL and who is about the same age (29) as the three players who retired from the Giants this week, if he had ever been. tried to stop when pushed to the edge of training camps.
“Have I ever had a thought that occurred to me?” Yeah, there are those tough days, days when you question things, ”Harrison said. “But mental toughness is before you have these thoughts, to be able to let go of those thoughts.”
There is no shame in making the decisions these three Giants players have made this week. It’s also not a bad reflection on Judge and his team.
Reached by The Post on Friday, Fulton’s agent Rick Smith was adamant that Judge’s training camp had nothing to do with his client’s decision to retire. It’s consistent with Looney and Davis’ comments.
Smith, however, declined a request from The Post to speak with Fulton.
For his part, Judge spoke on Friday with tremendous compassion for all three players – especially for a coach who has a reputation for being a badass, being a follower of Bill Belichick and all.
“I gave each of these players the opportunity to take a few days and think about it before making a career decision,” said Judge. “I had a good conversation with Zach [Thursday] night. Zach was doing a good job for us. He’s a guy I didn’t want to go. However, I respect his decision. Many of these former vets are at a different time in their lives with different things.
“You have to respect when these guys look us in the eye and say, ‘Look, I really wanted to see if I could get through it, but I don’t think my body is at this point’, and you can leave that point in the game with your health. ”
The judge said he had “left the door open for the three players to come back to the squad if they change their minds” based on the circumstances that if something were to happen they can come back if we have room for them. ”
“I would welcome all three of them back, really,” he continued. “These are guys that we brought into our program because we think they would help the team. They’re three good guys. ”
The judge acknowledged that “it’s a demanding place,” adding: “It’s a place that will want them to work, but we are smart in the way we work our players and we are very calculated. We have to push our players and train them so that when they go out onto the pitch, No.1 is safe and No.2 is playing effectively. It’s our job to help these players produce on the pitch and keep them. set up. This is training camp. ”
And it’s not for everyone.
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