The NFL is a very unforgiving league. The only thing that matters is how you perform today. It doesn't really matter what you did in the past. Loyalty is not a two-way street. You see that with players, coaches and owners. It's easy to see why players try to get as much money as possible.
Being 30 years old is young in life, but if you are a top running back in the NFL, it can be ancient. Such was the case with LaDainian Tomlinson with the San Diego Chargers.
He was released the other day with two years left on his contract. He was due a $2 million roster bonus next week. The handwriting was on the wall as the Chargers were moving towards a more passing oriented offense lead by QB Phillip Rivers.
Tomlinson was coming off an injury plagued year and had his lowest rushing totals with 730 yards on 223 carries for a 3.3 yard average. He was seen as a potential salary cap casualty.
After his nine NFL seasons, he is the 8th all-time leading rusher with 12,490 yards. He is 2nd all-time with 138 rushing TD's and 3rd with 153 total.
He capped of a 2006 MVP season with 31 TD's of which 28 were on the ground and scored 186 points. He lead the league in rushing during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
It will be interesting to see if he catches on with another team. He probably will, but will need to take a drastic pay cut and lesser role as a featured back.
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