Back at the Arizona Republic, Dan Bickley continues his series on the physical toll the NFL exacts on its players -- today focussing on the lineman who take the worst pounding, and have the most years taken from their lives by the game (to read the first installment, click here):
Cardinals center Mike Gruttadauria has a decision to make. In his seven-year career, he has won a Super Bowl and made a lot of money. But now the injuries are starting to pile up.Gruttadauria has a degenerative knee condition. He's had back problems. He's had vertebrae in his neck fused.
This past season, Gruttadauria took the needle before and during games just to stay in the lineup. He took shots just to make it through long plane rides. But then his troubled knee started locking up on him, and surgery became inevitable.
During his off-season in Florida, he will wrestle with the question that haunts so many NFL players.
Can I walk away?
"I have everything you want from a NFL career except for the goal I set for myself," Gruttadauria said. "And that goal was to play 10 years."
For guys such as Gruttadauria, linemen who weigh less than 300 pounds, it's getting harder and harder to make it through a season on their feet.
In 1988, there were only 17 players in the NFL who tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds. Today, 331 players are that large.
UPDATE: Here's the remainder of the installments in Bickley's series:
Part 3: "Quality of life, early deaths haunt linemen"
Part 4: "Dangerous addiction"
Part 5: "Bruiser Plank among the lucky"
Part 6: "Upshaw proud of union's progress"
Bickley deserves some sort of sports writing award for this series. Here's hoping he gets it.
ANOTHER UPDATE: NFL Lineman and obesity is the focus of a segment on the latest edition of HBO's Real Sports. Included in the segment is the last interview former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Frank Warren gave before he died of a heart attack brought on by a career full of overeating and a battle with cocaine abuse.
