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At the end of April, after the 49ers had pulled off the coup of acquiring Trent Williams from the Washington Redskins, Joe Staley announced what he’d kept under wraps in order to benefit the organization: he’d be retiring. Three days after announcing that retirement, on April 28, an emotional Staley explained the circumstances leading to his retirement, pointing to a severe neck injury, the extent of which he initially declined to reveal.
A week later, Staley revealed the extent of that neck injury on the Bussin With the Boys podcast.
“It was all of that stuff,” Staley said. “It was a bunch of stingers… It got to the point where in the Super Bowl, I’d make contact with my head, with anybody, I’d have from the base of my neck down through my back, I’d have just a zing, and my arms would go numb. Basically I had herniations at a bunch of different levels and really severe stenosis. And then the [doctor] was like, ‘If you’re going to have to continue to play football, you’re probably going to have to have neck fusion surgery on multiple levels.’ And I was just like, ‘I’m 35 and I’ve got kids. I don’t want to not be able to turn my neck for the rest of my life.”
When Staley talked about his decision to retire, he made it clear that his priority was his health, saying he didn’t have “a definitive plan” for his future, other than supporting his family and getting in non-lineman shape.
“Whatever I’m gonna be doing I’m gonna be working really hard at it, hopefully I’ll be a lot lighter and a lot better shape and be healthier,” Staley said.
That much has already happened, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, who spoke to Staley as part of a story examining just how brutal the weight maintenance program for offensive linemen is during their careers and how some manage to shed weight near-instantly after their careers end.
Per Kaplan, Staley said he’s donated five garbage bags of clothes after losing 50 pounds in five months since his retirement. In typical Staley fashion, there was some humor attached to the accomplishment.
“As an offensive lineman, you’re always known as this big, humongous, unathletic blob,” Staley said. “Offensive linemen get casted in a movie, and they’re always 500 pounds. Then you get the opportunity to be healthy again, and all of the effort you used to put into football, you put into that. It gives you a focus once you retire. It’s a little bit vain, but I’m starting to see abs that I’ve always wanted.”