John Moffitt quit the NFL this week after three years of playing the game. Moffitt called the Denver Broncos from his Seattle home to tell them he won’t return to the team after its bye week is over.
The third-year guard then took to Twitter to announce his retirement, writing, “Football was fun by my head hurts-haha kidding roger goodell. I’m on to new things, thanks to everyone along the way!!!”
USA Today reports that the Broncos put Moffitt on their reserve/left team list on Tuesday and activated center J.D. Walton from the physically unable to perform list.
The team has five days to formally release the former Seattle Seahawk, who left over $1 million on the table, including about $312,500 he was supposed to receive this season and $752,500 in non-guaranteed salary for 2014.
ESPN notes that John Moffitt knows that fans and his teammates won’t understand his reasons for quitting the NFL, along with the fame and fortune that comes with it. In a phone interview from Seattle, Moffitt still sought to help them understand, saying:
“I just really thought about it and decided I’m not happy. I’m not happy at all. And I think it’s really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness for money. Everybody, they just don’t get it and they think it’s crazy. But I think what I was doing is crazy.”
Moffitt made around $1.8 million before taxes during his two and a half years seasons in the NFL. He commented, “I’ve saved enough. It’s not like I’m sitting here and I’m a millionaire.” He added of the decision to quit, “I’m sitting here and I got to this point and I was like, what is the number that you need? How much do you really need? What do you want in life? And I decided that I don’t really need to be a millionaire. I just want to be happy.”
And for John Moffitt, happy means quitting the NFL.
