Retirement The Best Option
Terence Moore - Staff
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
Jessie Tuggle needs to save the Falcons and himself from something absolutely
shameful. He needs to retire. If he does, he'll avoid Dan Reeves' swinging ax
today, and then he'll leave the NFL without extra bruises after all of those tackles
in 14 seasons as a wonderful linebacker.
You don't cut a franchise icon unless that icon doesn't give you a choice. You let
him depart on his own. You have a mighty press conference. You retire his
number, and then you spend the rest of your franchise's existence doing
everything you can to make him bigger than life.
Instead, Tuggle is somewhere kicking and screaming with just the thought of
leaving his favorite thing this side of his family, and that's allowed. You wouldn't
expect anything less of a highly competitive soul who evolved from the B-team at
Griffin High School to the varsity's most valuable player as a senior. He
eventually was crowned the Gulf South Conference's defensive player of the year
at Valdosta State.
Then Tuggle signed with the Falcons before the 1987 season as a free agent
along the way to becoming a Pro Bowl regular. He is now the NFL's leading
active tackler, and the Falcons' all-time leader in that category.
Can Tuggle still play? Yep, but not without tarnishing his past.
That said, it is time for Tuggle to go. This isn't easy to type. After all, few players
ever were more respected inside and outside an NFL locker room than Tuggle. If
that wasn't enough, he could hit and bruise more often than not, but so could
Dick Butkus, Lawrence Taylor and all of those others who had to say goodbye.
Signs of Tuggle's decline came soon after he signed a four-year contract worth
$12 million before the 2000 season. He spent play after play looking less quick,
less potent, less something, and then he sprained his knee in the ninth game.
He was finished --- not only for the season, but for his career. He just didn't know
it.
Actually, he just didn't care. If there ever was an occupation not conducive to
somebody easing into retirement, it is pro football. We're talking about
employees with big muscles and bigger egos. They were taught never quit. Well,
not unless they wished to spit on the graves of their predecessors of leather
helmets and crooked noses.
"I once had a coach who told me to make them rip the jersey off your back,"
said Jeff Van Note, recalling how the Falcons nearly did just that after his 18
years as their center ended in a hurry following the 1986 season.
A few months later, Tuggle completed his Georgia trifecta in sports by going
from Griffin High to Valdosta State to the Falcons. He became their new Van
Note in so many ways.
There was Tuggle's work ethic. Only Mike Kenn and Van Note have started more
games for the Falcons. Plus, he joins Tommy Nobis and Van Note as the eternal
faces of a mostly faceless NFL franchise. Now we have the latest similarity
between Tuggle and Van Note: Both envisioned the end of their careers with the
Falcons as only a mirage.
"Football is physical labor, but you're living a pretty sheltered existence," said
Van Note, who played nearly until his 41st birthday. "When it's finally over,
you're stunned. You pause, and then you ask yourself, 'What do I do now?'"
What Van Note did was become a Falcons radio announcer. Nobis is the team's
vice president of corporate development. In other words, Tuggle isn't without
options, but he has to shed his No. 58 first. Hopefully, without the Falcons using
a crowbar. |
