Troy Polamalu Retires But Steelers Still Own Him

The Steelers Troy Polamalu may have finally said he’s done with the Steelers and done with football, but the Steelers still own him.

Well, not like own him own him.

What they have done is retain the rights to him. The team officially placed Polamalu on the reserve/retired list, and that means he’s still a part of the Steelers.

It’s a typical move by teams when a player retires. “Why?” you may ask.

Well, were Polamalu to decide to play football again in the near future – whether it’s one season from now or four – the Steelers own the rights to eligibility. They could decide to sign him to another contract or release him as a free agent – the choice is their’s alone.

I guess it keeps players ‘honest’ about wanting to retire and not just wanting to switch up teams when times are tough.

You’ll remember that Brett Favre retired early due to pressure from the Packers. Just a few short months after retiring, he decided it was too early and wanted to come back. He had to ask the Packers to release his rights because he was placed on the R/R list.

The drama with him and ‘retirement’ goes beyond just that instance, but you get the idea now.

Interestingly enough, Jerome Bettis was on the R/R list all the way until September of 2014 before finally being taken off and becoming a free agent… well… technically. The reason? The Steelers front office says the team was just cleaning up the books and keeping things in better order.

They also removed Jeff Hastings from that list the same day.

I don’t think Polamalu will try to come out of retirement, now will I think the Steelers will beg Troy to return should they find themselves in a pickle. When a guy like Troy says he’s done, there’s almost nothing that will drag him out.

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