Buffalo Bills’ Linebacker A.J. Tarpley Retires Due To Concussions After One Season

A.J. Tarpley announced on Thursday that he is retiring from the game of football at age 23.

Tarpley played just one season with the Buffalo Bills who signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Stanford University.  During his rookie year, Tarpley appeared in 14 games, totaling 8 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 interceptions.

A.J. Tarpley The Latest NFL Player To Retire Early

Tarpley said he suffered his third and fourth concussions of his career this past season and decided to retire after researching and contemplating his future. He called the decision “the hardest I’ve made yet, but after much research and contemplation, I believe its whats best for me going forward.”

Tarpley is the latest in what could be a new trend of younger NFL players retiring after a few seasons or before they are forced to by age in the league. San Francisco’s Chris Borland retired following his outstanding rookie season in 2014 over concerns of head trauma.

New York Jets’ left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson announced earlier today that he is hanging up the cleats at age 32. Ferguson, a three-time Pro Bowler (2009-11), has never even been listed on the Jets’ injury report since being taken 4th overall in the 2006 Draft out of Virginia, playing 10,351 snaps out of a possible 10,352.

Detroit Lions’ wide receiver Calvin Johnson retired at age 30 in March. Johnson is widely considered one of the best receivers of all-time and certainly one of the most athletic, sporting a rare size-speed combination of 6’5, 240 pounds, with a blazing 4.35 40 yard dash and 42.5 inch vertical leap. ‘Megatron’ holds numerous NFL records (1,964 receiving yards in a season) and Lions’ franchise records (16 receiving touchdowns in a season).

With a number of high profile players retiring in the prime of their careers, the NFL will have to do something to ensure the safety of it’s participants. The league recently admitted to a link between the sport and brain damage, and doctors said that CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) was a factor in the death of Tyler Sash, 27, who only played in 23 games in the NFL. CTE is a degenerative disease that is caused by repeated blows to the head.

It remains to be seen how the NFL will address this issue of players retiring sooner than usual, but for now, Tarpley and Ferguson are just the latest in this very real and potentially dangerous trend for the sport of football.