When Troy Aikman retired as quarterback of the Cowboys after the 2000 season, he was a shell of his former self, with persistent back injuries that had him looking like an old man on the field. He was 34 years old.
Aikman says that with today’s rules protecting quarterbacks, he never would have suffered those back injuries and would have played much longer, and he named protecting the quarterback as the biggest change to the game from the days when he was playing.
“I would probably say the protection on the quarterback,” Aikman told Kevin Clark on This Is Football. “I played 12 years. I would’ve played much longer, and I think that the norm going forward is going to be, we’re going to see quarterbacks playing up until they’re 40 years old and beyond. I think if anyone retires before they’re 40 it’s gonna be a little bit surprising.”
Aikman said today’s quarterbacks wouldn’t believe some of the hits he and his contemporaries had to endure.
“Quarterbacks just aren’t taking the punishment we took when I played,” Aikman said. “Any time a quarterback does get hit they’re immediately looking for a flag. I should put together a highlight reel of the worst hits that I took, and you would think these players would probably be banned from the NFL, and there wasn’t even a penalty on the play. It’s changed a lot, for sure.”