Point: Walker’s time is up, it’s time to move on.
Herschel Walker has clearly attending the “Brett Favre school of never letting oneself’ be out of the spotlight.”
With his exploits in MMA clearly not being enough, Walker still seems to think he can play in the NFL at age 53. I for one, think this is a terrible idea. For starters, Walker plays running back, one of the most physically taxing positions on the football field, and a position where most players are considered past their prime once they get on the wrong side of 30. I don’t care how in shape you think you are, a 53-year-old body and a 25-30 year old body respond to things differently, and Walker would be asking for trouble playing a high impact game like football at his age.
Interestingly enough, Falcons head coach Dan Quinn admitted soon after the comments picked up steam in the media that Walker wasn’t actually making a legitimate come back. That doesn’t stop Walker from suffering from Brett Favre syndrome and overestimating his own abilities, nor does it excuse Quinn for jokingly insinuating that none of his running backs were better than a 53 year old retiree.
Walker is undoubtedly an NFL great, but he needs to realize that his time is up. Let this serve as a warning for any other team that may be considering listening to Walker talk about how he can still play – he can’t, don’t sign him. – Zach Borutski
Counterpoint: Give him a chance to back his words up.
The real fan of sports should want nothing more than the return of Herschel Walker to the NFL. After all, with such mountains of men freight-training their way around the gridiron, the now 53-year-old won’t last long. Since the best mixed martial arts had to offer couldn’t put him out of his miserable athletic renaissance, I’d be glad to see Mr. Walker’s clock cleaned well enough to put him soundly out to pasture.
Comebacks never end well, and Herschel Walker no longer deserves any more of the spotlight, now that bigger, faster, better athletes perform on the NFL stage. Frankly, the only way to stop the incessant returns of Walker once and for all is to let him see that he truly doesn’t belong. Let a team sign him, he probably won’t make it past training camp. – Mitch Sorensen
Many of us suffer to some degree of denial. Hershel is likely in far better physical condition than most his age, but NFL is not the place to challenge “father time”. He always wins anyway and why risk a speedier trip to the nursing home. Just forget it, do your push ups, sit ups and eat healthy food and enjoy the game on TV.