Another San Fransisco 49ers player has decided to retire, as former Wisconsin Badgers stand out Chris Borland will retire from the NFL after just one year in the league. Borland was the 17th pick of the 3rd round in the 2014 NFL Draft and made a huge impact for the 49ers, which lead him to gaining a defensive player of the year vote, in just his rookie season. However, Borland believes his post career is more important than what he wants now.

“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,” Borland said.” “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”

“I feel largely the same, as sharp as I’ve ever been, for me it’s wanting to be proactive,” Borland said. “I’m concerned that if you wait till you have symptoms, it’s too late. There are a lot of unknowns. I can’t claim that X will happen. I just want to live a long healthy life, and I don’t want to have any neurological diseases or

Borland started to regret the decision to play in the NFL during training camp after what he suffered what he thought to be a concussion. Borland didn’t notify any team officials about the injury, and played through it in large part because he wanted too make the team. Borland regrets that now, however.

“I just thought to myself, ‘What am I doing? Is this how I’m going to live my adult life, banging my head, especially with what I’ve learned and knew about the dangers?’”

“I’ve thought about what I could accomplish in football, but for me personally, when you read about Mike Webster and Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling, you read all these stories and to be the type of player I want to be in football, I think I’d have to take on some risks that as a person I don’t want to take on.”

Borland had a great year for the 49ers, as he lead the team with tackles 107 combined tackles and 84 solo tackles. He also had 1 sack and 2 interceptions as he stepped up big in Patrick Willis’ absence, who retired just last week due to pain in his feet and other injures.

While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Borland received many different Big Ten honors. In his final year at Wisconsin he was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year, which also adds onto all of his other honors.

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