Feb. 23, 2010

Use your head, Brian: Be smart and walk away now

By Clark Judge | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Follow Clark

Now that the Philadelphia Eagles don't want Brian Westbrook the question is: who does? Hopefully, no one.

Brian Westbrook doesn't need another team or 200 more carries or one more playoff appearance to validate him. Nope, he needs time away from football -- as in a long time away from football -- to get his head together and figure out what's best for him.

My guess is that he already knows, and if he doesn't I'm here to help with a suggestion: Go home, Brian. And stay there.

It's not that you can't play pro football anymore. You know you can, and so do we. But at what cost? You turn 31 this season and have been one of the toughest, most courageous and most prolific running backs in recent NFL history. But your time is up, and you know it because you know what it was like to suffer through two concussions in three weeks.

I covered quarterbacks who suffered multiple concussions and played through them. But eventually they drove them from the game. The 49ers' Steve Young persevered as long as he could, but when he took a blow to the head in the third game of 1999 -- suffering what one club official later said was his second concussion in two weeks -- he took the hint.

He retired. And so should Westbrook.

It's one thing to overcome rib and ankle injuries, and Westbrook did that in 2008 -- going on where others could not or would not. But trying to overcome multiple concussions? Um, no thanks, especially when you're a running back.

That Westbrook suffered his second head injury last season in his first game back from a concussion tells you how vulnerable he -- and running backs, in general -- is to recurring head trauma. A quarterback can sit down for weeks, return and avoid -- or try to avoid -- taking a direct shot to the head. A running back cannot.

Westbrook is a head injury waiting to happen every time he cradles the football, puts his head down and tries to run through a maze of tacklers. As a valuable pass receiver, he is more at risk -- getting blind-sided when he turns to make a catch or reaches to grab a pass in traffic.

I watched Young struggle with a difficult decision, then listened to the 49ers as they tried to convince him it was time to go. If he wouldn't agree to retire, they told him, they would release him. It wasn't a threat; it was just a means of getting him to think hard about what he wanted out of life.

Young took weeks to make up his mind, visiting former 49ers offensive coordinator and then-Denver coach Mike Shanahan, who told Young he would sign him and start him as the Broncos' quarterback. It was an attractive offer, but, in the end, Young made the right choice. He didn't think of what was ahead of him the next year; he thought of what was ahead of him the next 10 years.

So he retired.

My hope is that Brian Westbrook follows his example. For the past eight seasons he was one of the best and brightest pro athletes on the Philadelphia landscape. But now the Eagles are telling him what the San Francisco 49ers told Steve Young a decade ago: It's time to leave.

If head coach Andy Reid thought Westbrook had gas in the tank ... if he thought he was a risk worth taking ... he would not have cut him loose. He would have given him the football and called on LeSean McCoy if Westbrook faltered.

But that would have been the easy choice. And the easy decision is not always the right decision. Brian Westbrook, listen up: Reid and the Eagles have delivered a message that should not be ignored. The party is over, and it's time to turn out the lights before someone turns them out for you.

Take the hint and leave. You'll thank yourself in another 10 years. Better yet, you might thank the Eagles.