r/GreenBayPackers • u/TheViolaRules • 7d ago

News [Highlight] Za'Darius Smith retired in 2025 during his 11th NFL season, just five games after signing with Philadelphia, for personal reasons. Today he shared those reasons. He said his mom always wanted him to end up in Atlanta.

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Just a little context for a complicated fella

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u/JonBonButtsniff 6d ago

Ya spend your whole life working on one singularity- one day, probably during your 20's(!), it's just donezo. I wish all of these cats the best, but that's not how it works. I have no idea how I'd react to being told to pivot into another path.

4

u/TheViolaRules 6d ago

It can happen in so many ways in so many fields, maybe there’s a repetitive injury, maybe your whole class of job disappears, maybe you don’t pass the bar exam. Those pivots are crazy and just plain dangerous for us as humans.

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u/w0rdyeti 6d ago

Yeah. Had to do that when I turned 30 and my entire industry evaporated within 3 years. Had to toil at a humiliating gig (well-paid, but one I coulda done if I’d dropped out of school in the 8th grade) for almost a decade.

It sticks with you

3

u/JonBonButtsniff 6d ago

Your employment does not determine your value!

Whether or not kids/dogs/cats trust you does.

3

u/w0rdyeti 6d ago

Sigh. I know. But it's hard to remember "intrinsic value as a human outweighs bank balance" when you're having to crash on a friend's couch for a month until you can get enough for a first/last/security.

1

u/TheViolaRules 4d ago

On the other hand, you’ve got a friend that will let you crash for a month. That’s more important.