Why did Brock go?

I’m the twitter friend in question. NFL players don’t walk away from money.  Especially not at Brock’s age.  He took a huge pay cut just so he could play DE?  I know that’s what he said, but it strikes me as pure posturing.  We all had him pegged as salary dump after the season.  It’s entirely possible (likely?) the Colts wanted him to stay but at a reduced rate.  I think he then asked for his release.

As a Twitter friend suggested, perhaps Brock saw the writing on the wall and suspected he was going to be a salary cap cut before this season. By getting his early release, he would be free to negotiate with a new team and wouldn’t have to wonder about the next job and change addresses last minute if, in fact, the Colts planned to release him.

That makes a lot of sense.

But the buzz is Brock wanted to be a pass rusher somewhere and had tired of being moved around in the Colts’ scheme. You might recall, he lined up everywhere with the Colts, sometimes as a stand-up linebacker, basically. He said all the right things at the time, how he liked the unpredictability of opponents not knowing from where he was coming from, one play to the next.

By asking for his release, Brock controls the narrative of his career.  He avoids the label “unwanted by the Colts”.  Brock is either very stupid for walking away from $3.5 million and a championship team OR he’s very very smart and took control of his career.

I’m betting he’s smart.

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