Former Buccaneers G Ali Marpet opted to retire at age 28 and revealed that carrying weight during his time in the NFL caused him to develop both hypertension and sleep apnea. “The biggest reason for me was the physical toll: I didn’t want any more of that. There were some things I wanted to accomplish in my career that I had done,” Marpet told the Guardian. “I loved playing football. But one of my strongest values is health and if I’m really going to live out what’s important to me it doesn’t make sense to keep playing. There are also the unknowns of the head trauma of the NFL and how that plays out. Plus, your joints, the aches and pains that come with surgeries, and all that stuff. I was eating as clean as possible for a 300-pounder but having all the weight on your body is bad.”
