A 30 year old RB bellcow who had played over 150 games is hardly walking away from the game early.
Sure he could have gone on a season or two more but for what? He didn’t need to do anything else to secure his HoF legacy. He wasn’t going to win a ring playing a couple more years at the Lions.
A couple more seasons and he probably holds the all time record and Emmitt Smith never passes him. Smith finished with about 3k more yards playing five more seasons. The last 3 being in Arizona where he was recording lower numbers but he was a draw for fans because of the record. If Barry was up in the 18k range when Emmitt is let go by the Cowboys the Cardinals probably dont pick him up.
A 30 year old RB bellcow who had played over 150 games is hardly walking away from the game early.
Sure he could have gone on a season or two more but for what? He didn’t need to do anything else to secure his HoF legacy. He wasn’t going to win a ring playing a couple more years at the Lions.
A couple more seasons and he probably holds the all time record and Emmitt Smith never passes him. Smith finished with about 3k more yards playing five more seasons. The last 3 being in Arizona where he was recording lower numbers but he was a draw for fans because of the record. If Barry was up in the 18k range when Emmitt is let go by the Cowboys the Cardinals probably dont pick him up.