I’ve never met Trevor Roach, and I probably never will. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard him speak, so I don’t know what’s really going on in his head. However, he said something over the weekend that deserves examination.

First, a little background…

Roach grew up playing football in Omaha. He earned a scholarship to play at the University of Nebraska. He suffered a host of injuries, and only managed 75 tackles during his college career. Academically, though, he flourished, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors three times, and graduated with a degree in finance.

After graduation in 2015, he was signed as a undrafted free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals. After being cut in training camp, he was signed to the Bengals practice squad. Eventually, he was promoted to active roster and, over the course of the last two seasons, he played in half a dozen NFL games.

His total compensation over those two seasons? $885,000. I don’t care who you are. That’s a pretty healthy chunk of change for a 24 year old man.

There was certainly no guarantee that Trevor Roach was going to make the Bengals roster this season. If he did, he’d have been set to make another half million dollars. Abruptly, though, Roach pulled the plug and quit this weekend. He decided it was time to retire. My immediate assumption was there was a lingering injury… Concussion issues, maybe. Nope.

Trevor Roach told FOX19 in Cincinnati, “When I started showing up and it felt like work, that’s when I knew it was time.”

What? This guy was getting paid half a million a year to EXERCISE. That felt like work? Really? Roach’s plan is to find a job in corporate finance. He may. And he may be wildly successful. I honestly hope he is. He’d do well to figure out that he’s got thousands of days ahead of him that are going to “feel like work”.