On Tuesday, Justin Tuck said some personal trauma and the collective weight of some injuries had him thinking about retirement at points last season.
By Wednesday, he said he didn’t really mean it that way.
“No, not at all,” Tuck said, via Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News.
He admitted Wednesday the emotional issues made him consider it, but said he wasn’t ready to go through with retirement.
“Honestly, you know how things go. You say ‘retirement’ and it gets blown out of proportion,” Tuck said. “Did it pop in my head? Sure it did. Did I seriously consider it or seriously think that I was going to retire last year? I don’t think so. But you know, last year was tough for me.
“I contemplated it a little bit, but as far as I’m concerned, all that retirement talk is kind of out the window now. I’m focused on having a great year this year and helping my team get back to the top of the mountain.”
At the moment, the Giants better be glad they have him, because they’re running low elsewhere on the line.
But Tuck’s ambivalence about the topic underscores what many older players go through. They love the game, the camaraderie and the paychecks, but don’t always like what it does to them, making some think about walking away from what many consider a dream job.