Vontae Davis retires — at halftime

This was my instinctual reaction, as it would be for most sports fans.  But I'll say this not so much as a defense for Davis but as a general observation.  How many athletes have come to the same conclusion Davis did, but continued collecting paychecks anyway?  He could've just mailed it in for the rest of the season and gotten paid to go through the motions or cheer from the sidelines after he got benched.  At least he walked away and stopped wasting everyone's time.  

Still, it's unacceptable to quit on your team during the game.  Even if you feel it in your bones that this is your last NFL game, make that mean something.  Go out like the professional you dreamed of being one day.     

Imagine people in other professions doing this. A musician stopping after a few tunes in concert, announcing that they're retiring, then just leaving the stage. A cop retiring halfway through chasing some armed robbers. A pilot retiring mid-flight--just grabs a parachute and bails.

I’m torn here. On one hand my sense of work ethic makes this seem ridiculous to me. I don’t care about other players that didn’t make the team or anything like that. But you’re getting paid to do a job and you quite halfway thru an important part of it. He could’ve finished the game then retired and I would have zero criticism for that, but to do it midway just reeks of disrespect to me.

On the other hand it’s his job, his money, his time and his life. Who am I to say someone should spend one second of their short time in this life doing something they don’t want to do. Assuming he has no problem with whatever financial ramifications may apply I don’t really have an issue here.

Should he have collected a paycheck the entire season when his heart wasn't in it? Those guys who didn't make the team that you speak of, one of them is going to get picked up. That wouldn't happen if he just played for a paycheck the rest of the year.

I guess this guy was a bitch too then, for quitting early in the schedule:

Neat to see behind-the-scenes footage!

Disagreed.

Even the Iron Man himself, Cal Ripken Jr. removed himself from a game, and without injury to boot.

What's funny is that Billy Cole had simply shaken off 3 would-be tacklers, Tecmo Bowl style, before opting to murder the safety, as opposed to just, you know, running past him.  

I've got no problem with him retiring early or mid season. He may well have got through the pre season fully believing he was physically and mentally up for another year. He realises he isn't and so instead of wasting his time and his team's he pulls the pin. I would have preferred he wait till the end of the game, but the same logic applies: the guy one below him on the depth chart gets some play time he wouldn't have had otherwise.