Editor’s note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps.
There was a player who retired from the NFL recently, and he isn’t one of those blockbuster names you’ll know. He is still important and he’s important because he’s a reminder of the cruel reality of the sport so many of us love.
Terron Armstead played 12 seasons in the NFL, most recently for the Miami Dolphins. Armstead was only 33 years old when he retired. In many “normal” jobs, you’re just getting started at 33. Not the NFL.
Armstead recently appeared on the “Nightcap” show and said his career is at the point where he could only play in games if he used painkilling medication. Then he described something stunning. He originally injured his knee in 2015, but it never fully healed.
Meaning, he’s been playing with significant knee pain as an NFL player for about a decade.
“I’ve been dealing with a knee (issue) 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.”
It’s far from uncommon for NFL players to deal with chronic pain, even when extreme. I’ve heard numerous examples of this (interestingly the stories almost always come after the player retires).
We know about this part of the NFL but none of us should forget it. Sure, no one forces them to do it. Yes, they get tons of cash. It’s prestigious.
The problem is we continue to shift away from recognizing the human part of what players do. We are traversing further away from acknowledging them as human beings, like we’re on a starship, and the helm is taking us away from our home world.
It’s not just fantasy football that’s doing this. Gambling is dehumanizing players in worse ways than fantasy football or anything else ever will.
Walking away from the game isn’t easy, but it’s better to walk away on your own than it is to be forced out@ShannonSharpe @ochocinco @T_Armstead72 @ShayShayMedia_ pic.twitter.com/PtUG9ULUOY
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) June 5, 2025
Eric Winston, a former NFL offensive lineman and union executive, when once addressing the dangers of legalized gambling, spoke of the possible consequences, one of them being the further demeaning of athletes.
“A lot of people look at us as — I don’t know if it’s subhuman — but not necessarily human, not necessarily having those feelings, those issues that everyone else is having,” Winston said.That was 2018.
It’s so much worse now.
Why we sometimes need to take a breath, pause for a minute, just a minute, and remember what these NFL players go through. Players like Frank Ragnow.
He retired at just 29. Ragnow was one of the league’s great competitors and ironmen. But the litany of things he played through reads like something from a screenplay for a movie about a chaotic ER.
Ragnow played through ankle injuries (2019 and 2023), a concussion (2019), a fractured throat (2020), turf toe (2021 and 2022), a groin injury (2022), a calf injury (2022), a back injury (2022), a knee injury (2022), and a partially torn pec (2024).
A fractured throat.
One more time: a fractured throat. (For the record a fractured throat does not sound great.)
But beyond the catastrophic injuries are the ones that prevent players from having normal lives. Doing things like just walking around. Bending down. Standing. Driving.
Ragnow once missed 13 games in 2021 because of what he called “the most severe degree of turf toe.” He had a different injury to that same toe the following season and called that year one of the toughest of his career. He told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, two years ago that surgery wouldn’t help and he would just have to play through for the rest of his career. It’s difficult to believe it didn’t play a part in his decision to retire. Again, at just 29.
“These past couple of months have been very trying as I’ve come to the realization that my football journey is ending and I’m officially retiring from the NFL,” Ragnow announced. “I’ve tried to convince myself that I’m feeling good but I’m not and it’s time to prioritize my health and my families future.
“I have given this team everything I have and I thought I had more to give, but the reality is I simply don’t. I have to listen to my body and this has been one of the hardest decisions of my life. The Lions organization has been absolutely incredible throughout this process and I can’t emphasize this enough how grateful I am for this team and all the fans. It was an absolute honor going to battle for you all.”
He did battle. All the time. A lot of NFL players do. Most do, in fact.
And as we watch them battle, don’t forget what they are: human beings.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL players pay brutal price for football life
