Patrick Willis Expected to retire

[deep9er]

OMG this makes no sense. Why would he retire.

his toe is holding him back, so he can't play at a high level anymore. if....IF he can't play at a high level, why pay him $7M for his name?

On paper this hurts bad, but again, if he can't PLAY like Patrick Willis, this helps the team with cap space.

 

[deep9er]

Sad to see Willis retire at 30, but health is more important than money. Class act who gave it all on the field. Will miss him terribly. Hope that Bowman can come back to form.

yep, that is the larger concern heading into this season.

 

[deep9er]

Holee shit. This team will be a shell of it's former self one the season starts.

Harbaugh beginning to look like a genius for getting out when he did.

Justin and Gore are at the very end of their careers, so while we could've used them, its not huge. In Willis' case, just unfortunate he can't continue playing on that toe. This one hurts but if he's injured, he's injured.

 

[deep9er]

I think it has a little to do with it. especially with cowboy. There really isn't a reason for willis to retire. Surgery went great and his rehab was going well. He is only 30 years old. Only played 8 years. Like someone said this is like Barry sanders retiring.

IMO rehab isn't going well, it has to be the main reason he's retiring. Although he might be mad at the FO, you still wouldn't retire knowing you have a few SOLID years left.

 

[lasportzphan]

If this was really about the Front Office, Willis could have asked to have been released and signed with another team.

New rumors suggest this is a "faith, religion" based decision as his rehab was going well. With that in mind, I'm not shutting the door on him having an issue with management. Sure, he could ask to be released, but they'd never do it.

 

[Pattersonca65]

New rumors suggest this is a "faith, religion" based decision as his rehab was going well. With that in mind, I'm not shutting the door on him having an issue with management. Sure, he could ask to be released, but they'd never do it.

There was also a rumor that Willis didn't see eye to eye with Harbaugh and didn't like the way Harbaugh ran the team so if we are all going to speculate on this, one could also say it wasn't about Harbaugh. I would suspect if Willis demanded a trade, they would probably have to honor it.

 

[Chamoanlad]

New rumors suggest this is a "faith, religion" based decision as his rehab was going well. With that in mind, I'm not shutting the door on him having an issue with management. Sure, he could ask to be released, but they'd never do it.

I doubt it's a management thing. Retiring for religious reasons isn't unheard of though it's rare. Napoleon Kaufman did the same thing once upon a time with the Raiders and Kaufman was about the same age as Willis I believe and their starting running back who was pretty good.

From everything I've read Willis's gf/finacee is very religious and it might be rubbing off on him. I'm not saying it's her fault or its a bad thing, but Willis has obviously had a change of heart about things and with the injuries and changes to the team, it probably seems like a good time to do this.

There have been numerous reports that Willis is has been working out and rehabbing regularly with the team so this might even have been a bit of a revelation to Willis himself. Or he's feeling more pain in that toe then is being let on. Sounds like he's taking a little time to think it over before announcing and I'm glad he's doing that.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Sad to see Willis retire at 30, but health is more important than money. Class act who gave it all on the field. Will miss him terribly. Hope that Bowman can come back to form.

Agreed health is more important... but what are his health issues ? Because I thought it was just a toe last year and everything looked good right now...

 

[Pattersonca65]

Agreed health is more important... but what are his health issues ? Because I thought it was just a toe last year and everything looked good right now...

he had a chronic toe issue that really affected his play. So much so that he went on season ending IR rather than continue trying to play on it. From what I've read, he was progressing well after surgery. But who knows. A toe sounds like a silly thing but it is hard to play on it, when it is really sore. Tramaine Brock's season basically ended from an early season turf toe injury.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

he had a chronic toe issue that really affected his play. So much so that he went on season ending IR rather than continue trying to play on it. From what I've read, he was progressing well after surgery. But who knows. A toe sounds like a silly thing but it is hard to play on it, when it is really sore. Tramaine Brock's season basically ended from an early season turf toe injury.

I remember it was affecting him, but I thought it was all corrected with the year off and the surgery... Obviously it must be worse than anyone realized... Man that's a tough ... Helluva player...

 

[Hangman]

NFL network threw in this tidbit when talking about his retirement. I heard something similar on ESPN. It might be for a year only. That he wants to do some work in his church and needs more time to heal and might comeback in a year.

 

[darken65]

 

[Montalban]

Wow! Both Willis and Smith retiring; the two stalwarts of the defense and now Gore abonding ship? Niners are melting down from within. The only hope they have is if the rumors of the Kaepernick trade are true. At least we can get of that boat anchor.

 

[purguy12]

Agreed health is more important... but what are his health issues ? Because I thought it was just a toe last year and everything looked good right now...

Everything was looking good that's why it doesn't make sense. This religion news is what made him retire I think.

 

[van_basten]

his toe is holding him back, so he can't play at a high level anymore. if....IF he can't play at a high level, why pay him $7M for his name?

On paper this hurts bad, but again, if he can't PLAY like Patrick Willis, this helps the team with cap space.

The question is not why we want to pay him. The question is why he wants to retire. It makes no sense. I guess we will see what he says tomorrow.

 

[purguy12]

The question is not why we want to pay him. The question is why he wants to retire. It makes no sense. I guess we will see what he says tomorrow.

It has to be religion. He was doing fine with rehab. I guess we will find out tomorrow. Taking a year off is not smart. He can do his church thing later in life. U only got so many years to play football. Church will always be there. He will miss making 7 mill a year.

I will miss him. Again the good news we have money to pay with in FA and we have Borland.

 

[deep9er]

The question is not why we want to pay him. The question is why he wants to retire. It makes no sense. I guess we will see what he says tomorrow.

IMO......his toe is holding him back, so he can't play at a high level anymore


If you're a perennial Pro-Bowler and KNOW your toe will make you average/below average player.....what would you do? He would likely get benched in favor of Borland? To me it makes sense to rest it another year, get mentally recharged, don't "downgrade" your performances, and come back in 2016. Willis said he feels another 5-6 years in him. Don't know if the 49ers would retain rights, but I'm just looking at it from Willis' view.

From the 49ers view, he is sacrificing his pay to help the cap.

 

[HighTopFade]

Hate to see him go. I'm not really concerned though.

 

[CitySushi]

With the emergence of Borland, from a production standpoint, do we really lose that much? From a nostalgia POV, I hate to see Willis go, but it is what it is. The key will be getting Bowman back to 100%.

 

[Pattersonca65]

Wow! Both Willis and Smith retiring; the two stalwarts of the defense and now Gore abonding ship? Niners are melting down from within. The only hope they have is if the rumors of the Kaepernick trade are true. At least we can get of that boat anchor.

How are they melting down? Obviously Willis retiring wasn't anticipated, but Gore and Smith are near the end of their careers. Smith has been contemplating retiring for a couple of years now. The team is starting to transition to younger players, if not this year than probably next