Imrem: Unexpected twist in NFL's concussion fallout

Calvin Johnson announced his retirement Tuesday, and the NFL should blame itself for the movement of players out of the game.

The league has become too prosperous, making it easier for players like Johnson to exit sooner than later.

Unless you're a Bears cornerback, Johnson is far down the list of people you would want to see retire.

Like, why couldn't Mike Madigan enjoy shuffling off to shuffleboard? Doesn't Vladimir Putin want to compete in the America's Cup? Isn't Chris Berman's next calling calling him yet?

The answers are no, no and Chris Who?

Yet Calvin Johnson, a widely admired wide receiver even opposing fans like to watch, has decided to catch naps instead of passes.

Even the Bears should miss Johnson, 30, if they believe at all in "you have to beat the best to be the best," sort of like the division isn't as much fun without Brett Favre.

Anyway, Johnson's retirement indicates that I was wrong about the fallout from the NFL's concussion issue.

I thought pro football was vulnerable on the front end by fewer kids choosing to play in the first place.

Instead the back end is the biggest threat to the game.

Enough kids, though fewer, still will be lured into football. The difference will be that they won't stay as long as players did in previous generations.

Football players traditionally played football until they couldn't play football anymore.

That's why I wouldn't have been shocked to see Peyton Manning play at least one more season.

It's the old thing - though it never really was as valid as the romance of the game made it out to be - that players would play for nothing.

Even if the front end of football competition became endangered, at least the back end would remain secure.

Barry Sanders was considered an aberration when he retired from the Lions at a similar age that Johnson is.

Sanders' decision was greeted by sideways glances as if there must be something wrong with a guy who doesn't want to play football when he still can.

Fast-forward a decade or so to last year's unusually large number of early retirements being greeted more with knowing nods.

Now here Johnson is, saying goodbye at an age when formerly most players his age were still saying hello.

Football fans understand. Lions teammates understand as well as anyone. Even NFL executives understand even if they have a hard time admitting it out loud.

You'd have to be brain-dead - sorry, bad choice of words - to ignore the consequences of football's violence on the health of football players.

Calvin Johnson wanted to leave the game with his faculties reasonably intact and with the hope he'll be able to function in the real world for decades to come.

Johnson could get out while the getting is good because he already was paid enough money to support every American and Scandinavian named Johnson into the next millennium.

One estimate of Johnson's career earnings is $113.8 million, with around $65 million left after paying taxes and returning part of the bonus on his final contract.

The NFL will go on forever but with fewer great players in their 30s and a reduced degree of excellence.

Maybe the league should quit gouging fans, sponsors and TV partners, lower each team's salary-cap number and make it so players have to keep on keeping on.

That way, JJ Watt would have to work as long as Bernie Sanders.

mimrem@dailyherald.com