Herschel Walker: What to Make of His Comeback Attempt
January 26th 2011 21:08
Herschel Walker has a fight ahead of him...literally, with an MMA Strikeforce battle coming up this Saturday. He may be taking on an even bigger battle in the near future.
Walker, with his Greek god-like 6'1"-220 pound-plus physique, may be attempting a comeback to the NFL. He once was college football's poster child, one of the best to ever play on that level. He later went on to a successful NFL career.
After being an olympic bobsledder, and now an MMA fighter, Walker feels confident he can still play in the NFL. He will be 49 before next season starts, but may not want to play again till 2012, when he will be 50, and will have gone 15 years without being in an NFL huddle.
Walker was reported to have ran a sub-4.4., 40 yard dash last year. He's 48 for heaven's sake. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that he's still a physical freak and still has surpreme athleticism. But at 48, no matter how fit, can he take the pounding of the NFL day-in and day-out still?
Mental toughness will be just as much of a factor as physical in this situation. He looks close, to just as good, in shape as he was two decades ago. But even with the violence and physicality of MMA, it's not an everyday thing like NFL practices and games.
It's been done before in sports. George Foreman in boxing. Gordie Howe in hockey. George Blanda in football. All those guys have performed in their late 40's in extremely physical sports. But this is different from the rest.
Blanda played that long as a quarterback and kicker, not a runningback, a position that players don't last too long at in the NFL. While Walker is different from maybe any athlete to ever walk on this earth, the aches and pains will multiply much faster than 10, 15, 20 years ago.
Walker's nature is he's a very self-motivated, dedicated, focused person. You have to be to have the success that he's had. So with that said, I'm not taking him lightly, and no one else should either. Especially owners and GMs.
With that said, what teams would Walker want to play for? He had said he wanted to possibly make a comeback in Georgia, with the Atlanta Falcons. But would Atlanta want him with Michael Turner and Jason Snelling there? What about one of his former team, the Vikings?
I think the better question is, what teams would want to give him a chance?
"I 100 percent guarentee you I can help a football team out," said Walker. So who would take a stab? I think there's more teams than most people think that would atleast give Walker a tryout.
Surely some team would let him fight (not literally) for a spot, by giving him a training camp invite, right? I guess we'll find out soon enough. To think Ken Strong and the great Jim Thorpe were the only runningbacks over 40 to play in the NFL, is crazy when thinking about Walker.
But like Thorpe, Walker is another level of athlete. He may never be what he was, or even close, but if I'm an NFL team, it doesn't hurt anything by giving him a shot. You may say it sounds crazy to think a 50 year old guy playing in the NFL. But have you seen Herschel Walker. He is crazy.
Walker, with his Greek god-like 6'1"-220 pound-plus physique, may be attempting a comeback to the NFL. He once was college football's poster child, one of the best to ever play on that level. He later went on to a successful NFL career.
After being an olympic bobsledder, and now an MMA fighter, Walker feels confident he can still play in the NFL. He will be 49 before next season starts, but may not want to play again till 2012, when he will be 50, and will have gone 15 years without being in an NFL huddle.
Walker was reported to have ran a sub-4.4., 40 yard dash last year. He's 48 for heaven's sake. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that he's still a physical freak and still has surpreme athleticism. But at 48, no matter how fit, can he take the pounding of the NFL day-in and day-out still?
Mental toughness will be just as much of a factor as physical in this situation. He looks close, to just as good, in shape as he was two decades ago. But even with the violence and physicality of MMA, it's not an everyday thing like NFL practices and games.
It's been done before in sports. George Foreman in boxing. Gordie Howe in hockey. George Blanda in football. All those guys have performed in their late 40's in extremely physical sports. But this is different from the rest.
Blanda played that long as a quarterback and kicker, not a runningback, a position that players don't last too long at in the NFL. While Walker is different from maybe any athlete to ever walk on this earth, the aches and pains will multiply much faster than 10, 15, 20 years ago.
Walker's nature is he's a very self-motivated, dedicated, focused person. You have to be to have the success that he's had. So with that said, I'm not taking him lightly, and no one else should either. Especially owners and GMs.
With that said, what teams would Walker want to play for? He had said he wanted to possibly make a comeback in Georgia, with the Atlanta Falcons. But would Atlanta want him with Michael Turner and Jason Snelling there? What about one of his former team, the Vikings?
I think the better question is, what teams would want to give him a chance?
"I 100 percent guarentee you I can help a football team out," said Walker. So who would take a stab? I think there's more teams than most people think that would atleast give Walker a tryout.
Surely some team would let him fight (not literally) for a spot, by giving him a training camp invite, right? I guess we'll find out soon enough. To think Ken Strong and the great Jim Thorpe were the only runningbacks over 40 to play in the NFL, is crazy when thinking about Walker.
But like Thorpe, Walker is another level of athlete. He may never be what he was, or even close, but if I'm an NFL team, it doesn't hurt anything by giving him a shot. You may say it sounds crazy to think a 50 year old guy playing in the NFL. But have you seen Herschel Walker. He is crazy.
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