Puka Nacua caught the attention of everyone in the football world this week when he revealed on the “Join The Lobby” podcast that he wants to “retire at the age of 30.” He’ll be 24 at the end of May, which gives him six or seven more years in the NFL before he hangs up his jersey and cleats.
His logic is sound, wanting to be healthy enough to enjoy his family after he’s done playing. He’s not the first player to express that desire and he won’t be the last, given the violent nature of football.
“The injuries are something you can’t control (as) part of the game, so you never know,” he said. “Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd went on a rant after hearing Nacua’s comments and he called out the Rams receiver. He takes issue with Nacua speaking publicly about retirement, explaining why he isn’t a fan of what Puka said.
It’s not that he has a problem with Nacua wanting to retire early. Cowherd just doesn’t love the idea of a player revealing his plans to the world.
"Don’t love it,” Cowherd began. “NFL general managers, they're not looking for work-life balance. They’re not. They don't care. They want you to be Kobe. They want you to be obsessed. They want you to be Brady. They want you to be Lamar Jackson. They don’t want work-life balance. And I think it actually puts a light on Puka.
“What if next year he's got more than a few drops? ‘Is that guy committed? Is he putting in the time?’ He misses a couple games in a row. ‘Maybe he's just protecting his body over team.’ You introduce questions you don't need to introduce."
Cowherd isn’t totally wrong for saying Nacua should keep this to himself. Where he misses the mark is questioning Nacua’s commitment. No one in the Rams’ building would doubt Nacua’s work ethic, especially after seeing how much time he put in the gym last year alongside Cooper Kupp.
Heck, he was throwing up every day while training with Kupp.
"Nobody's looking for humanity," Cowherd continued. "They're looking for 18, 19 games, 120 catches, playing hurt. That's what they're looking for. … It’s not the end of the world, but you start talking retirement, and you’re already there.
“You can think about it. You can financially plan for it. I wouldn’t discuss it.”
Cowherd also makes the point that these comments could wind up hurting Nacua down the road. It could cause the Rams to start making different plans at wide receiver, knowing Nacua may be eyeing retirement in 2031 or 2032.
“In two years, by the way, if you’re sitting there on the draft board and you’re thinking, ‘You know what? May be time to go first-round wide receiver,’” Cowherd said. “If anything, it can hurt your leverage. So sometimes, you’ve just got to keep things to yourself and talking about retirement at 23, I don’t love it.
“Don’t advertise it. Don’t tell everybody in the room – your GM, your teammates – ‘Guys, I'm putting away a lot of money. I'm out of here.’”
It’s not the end of the world and who knows if Nacua will even stick to his plan of retiring at 30. That’s still a long way out and a lot can change in the NFL in six years.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Puka Nacua retirement: Colin Cowherd calls out Rams WR over comments
