Ryan Kalil realized he wasn’t ready to walk away from football after 12 seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He wanted more, which is why the Pro Bowl center and two-time national champion at USC ended his brief retirement to sign a one-year deal with the Jets.
The chance to play again — to win again — is still greater than the pain and injuries that inevitably come with such a brutal sport. Yet, Kalil understands why Andrew Luck said goodbye after nine seasons as the quarterback in Indianapolis.
“‘From what I’m hearing, it sounds like it was probably a little bit worse than people think,” Kalil said of Luck on Tuesday at the Jets’ training facility in Florham Park, N.