Hines and the Steelers

Today news broke that the Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was released from the team.  Love or hate the Steelers, Ward deserves respect for his accomplishments on and off the field.  As the all time leading receiver for Pittsburgh he was one of the most beloved football players of his time.  The painful break-up between him and his organization was bound to happen, even if no one(including the Steelers organization) wanted to see it happen.

Ward was quoted today saying that he planned to continue his career in the NFL next year for another team.  While I can respect his choice to continue to do what he loves, I believe he should hang up his cleats and retire.  His leadership would boobs undoubtedly be invaluable to any team that decided to pick him up, but he would still at best be a 3rd string WR.  Ward should retire and go live his life in peace, or join the ESPN commentator cult as so many other former players do.