Mar 14, 2015 5 min read

Easy come. Easy go.

What was the bigger story this week, Ben Roethlisberger signing a five-year contract extension for something in the neighborhood of $100 million or Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds announcing his retirement and walking away from $20 or $30 million?

The story that affects the Steelers the most is obviously Roethlisberger’s signing, but isn’t that a dog bites man story? Who didn’t think the Steelers would extend a 33-year-old franchise quarterback’s contract? It was always a matter of when and for how much.

Worilds’ retirement Tuesday at 27 isn’t exactly sending reverberations through the NFL because he’s a slightly above average pass rusher. But, in the middle of the money grab that is the National Football League free agent period, he was sure to get between $20 and $30 million as a free agent.

It’s rare for anybody to walk away from that kind of money, in sports or any other profession. Worilds made close to $10 million last year and a total of around $13 million in his five years with the Steelers. Maybe he woke up Tuesday morning thinking about mini-camp, training camp and a 16-week season and said, “Who needs this?”

It amazes me that more players don’t do it.

That’s especially true of football players. If you play just about any other sport, at least 60 percent of your time is spent actually participating in the game you love to play. If you’re a football player, there are, counting exhibition games and possible postseason games, somewhere between 16 and 24 times a year when you actually get to compete.

And in football, of course, you really only get to play half the game.

Baseball, hockey and basketball players don’t have a tenth of the number of meetings football players have. Imagine how those must drag for an offensive lineman playing for a 3-10 team in December. After you’ve already made $40 or $50 million, you’d have to really love football to not be tempted to turn in your playbook and head for the beach.

Patrick Willis, an All-Pro linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers, also walked away from a pile of money Tuesday. He’s 30 years old and could have made another $30 million on top of the $50 million he already earned during his eight-year career. Missing 10 games last season, toe surgery and recurring problems with his feet made him decide to walk away knowing he can still walk without a limp, unlike so many former players he knows.

Roethlisberger said the negotiations on his deal were easy because it was a fair contract but he also had all the leverage. He could have pushed it to the limit and held out and forced the Steelers to put a franchise tag on him next year.

Having already made $100 million might have made the numbers less important to him. Quarterbacks will always make the big bucks, and 33 isn’t nearly as old for a quarterback as it is for every other position on the field.

Jake Locker was the eighth pick in 2011. He played a total of 30 games at quarterback for the Tennessee Titans in four seasons and made $12.5 million. He announced Tuesday he’s had enough. Twenty-six years old and his No. 1 job just became remodeling his house in Ferndale, Wash., 16 miles from the Canadian border on the Pacific coast.

Not bad for a 26 year-old guy with a young wife and two kids.

Most players find it hard to walk away from the game because there’s so much money to be made. More are starting to walk away because there’s so much they’ve already made.

With so many retired players still paying the physical price for extending their careers to the max, guys such as Locker, Willis and Worilds look like the smart ones.

• University of Oklahoma president David Boren came down a lot harder this week on the stupid Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers, who were caught on video singing a racist song on a party bus, than he did on one of his football players.

I know. You’re shocked.

Two frat boys were expelled within two days and the fraternity is suing OU. Back in July, Joe Mixon, a freshman running back, was caught on video punching OU junior Amelia Rae Molitor. She was knocked unconscious with four broken bones in her face.

Mixon somehow got the charge reduced to a misdemeanor with 100 hours of community service.

He was suspended from the football team but he wasn’t expelled. Mixon stayed on campus, was allowed to rejoin the team in February and is expected to be one of the best backs in the Big 12 next season.

President Boren will be cheering him on from his luxury box for many Saturdays to come, oblivious to his contribution to the cesspool that is big time college football.

So much for the old song, “sticks and stones.”

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday sports column for the Observer-Reporter.