Q&A: Rashard Mendenhall on life as an early NFL retiree

When former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall announced his retirement a year ago at age 26, he had no idea he'd be a trendsetter. But in the past two weeks, five NFL players aged 30 or younger have announced their retirement — the most notable among them a pair of San Francisco 49ers linebackers, Pro Bowler Patrick Willis and 2014 third-round pick Chris Borland.

While Mendenhall was adamant that nagging injuries (like Willis) or concern about the long-term effect of head injuries (like Borland) did not lead him to an early retirement, he admires their decision to retire under their own terms.

Now perhaps Mendenhall can serve as an example for those players, and for other new retirees like former Titans quarterback Jake Locker and former Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds, about how to successfully — and rapidly — transition into a life that no longer has football in it.

"I'm really encouraged, and I just think it's cool that guys are realizing that you don't have to do it. It's been a thing where you feel like you have to. Even for me, there were people around me, friends and family, that didn't understand. And you feel like even if you want to stop, you can't," Mendenhall said. "I think what's cool now and what's encouraging, is guys realize you really can stop, if that's what you want to do. It is possible, and guys are doing it. There is another life apart from football, and you can be happy. You can still work. It's encouraging to see guys say, 'If it feels right, I can do this.' "

Mendenhall, a first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008 who won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie, spoke to USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday about the new life he's built for himself in Hollywood as a writer for the upcoming HBO television series Ballers, which is scheduled to premiere in June. He has moved to Los Angeles, become a full member of the Writer's Guild and hasn't ever wondered what his life would have been like if he had tried to continue his NFL career.

Q: You must have seen the news in the past week or so about so many guys choosing an early retirement. What was your reaction, especially to Chris Borland's decision? How much did health concerns factor in your decision to leave the NFL last year?

Mendenhall: I never had a concussion, never had any head problems. The only major injury I had was an ACL in 2012, but I had already recovered from that and played on that, so no specific health concerns. It wasn't a thought for me. Especially not with head stuff because I had never had head problems. That wasn't the thing for me. It was just being in it was feeling different, when I thought about my life in football and my life apart from it.

Q: Now that you've been retired for a year, what advice would you give guys like Borland or Willis who have just retired, or to current players who might be considering walking away? What tools do they need as they try to move on?

Mendenhall: I would say it's really about having a plan. That doesn't mean you need to know what's going to happen, or how it going to shake out, or how much money it will take. It's not about knowing what's going to happen, because you can't know. But having a plan of knowing what you want to work towards and what steps you're going to take. For me, my plan was when I was done, I was going to go back to school and get my degree, I was going to go to Northwestern, and then in the meantime, all my personal writings and expressions, I was going to put that collection together and release a book. That was my plan. It was just that along the way, I wrote that piece (his essay about his retirement decision that was published by Huffington Post) and that was a step, and from that piece I got a chance to write television, and it ended up working out. So, for guys I would say you don't have to know exactly what's going to happen or how it's going to shake out, but having a plan, having a direction, I believe things will happen. You'll find where you need to be as long as you have a direction to go.

Q: How long did you know you wanted to make a career out of writing?

Mendenhall: I've always known I wanted to write. It was always a passion of mine — it was peace, a getaway. It was also, even while I was playing, it was kind of an artist mentality. You have a day job, but the art that you're working on is what you really want to do. While I was playing football, it was like I always had known that I would play til it was complete, but apart from that, I always wrote and developed my writing. I knew that when I was done playing, that's what I was going to do. It was kind of always a thing behind (football), I just didn't know what to what extent in television or see how it was going to shape up. ... I jumped right into something, and it was really cool and enjoyable, because writing was something that I always enjoyed and coincidentally (the HBO show) had to do with football — something that I loved. It was a really natural and cool and beautiful thing to be a part of.

Q: When did you know it was going to work out? Was part of that getting into the Writer's Guild?

Mendenhall: I was really excited when I got my card. It was like, "Wow, I'm legit." You need a certain amount of work to be part of the union, a certain amount of weeks working on a show. I think it was six or nine weeks for partial membership, and 14 weeks for full membership. Given my opportunity, initially it felt like a tryout, you know? It was like a training camp or something because initially they wanted to feel me out. Initially my contract was for three weeks. At that time, I just thought maybe it would be a cool experience. But in those three weeks, it was clear it was something that I could grow in, something I could do and the guys in that room were like, "You're good at this, you're really talented and you need to stick with this."

Q: It all happened pretty quickly for you. What was that transition like?

Mendenhall: The tough part wasn't so much looking back. I didn't look back at the NFL like, "Oh, did I make the right decision? Could I still play?" Because there was a lot of stuff going on with running backs, where teams were looking for backs, even last season in Arizona. But I wasn't really looking back like, "Man, I could be there," because that was really complete for me. It was just kind going through re-seeing myself. This is who I am now, being in television, being on set, in a role of sort of a producer, it just felt so new. It was getting used to, "Man, is this who I really am now?"

Q: How much did you pay attention to the NFL last year? Was it ever hard to watch games?

Mendenhall: I followed my teams, the Cardinals (for whom Mendenhall played in 2013), the Steelers and the Bears, since I'm from Chicago. Whenever I'd catch one of my teams on, I would pay attention, or to the running backs I like around the league. But I watched it casually. ... Early on it was tough, not tough like I wanted to be out there, but it was just different. There was one time when I was in Chicago and was leaving downtown and there was all this traffic and I couldn't understand why, and then I start seeing people in jerseys. I was like, "Oh damn, its football season." In my hometown, I never had been driving out of my place when there was a football game going on. At times like that, it was like, "Wow, I'm really outside of it." I sat and really explored those feelings so they wouldn't show up later. There was never any point that I was like, "Oh I want to go back to it." It just took getting used to.

Q: Now that's it been well over a year since your last game, how does your body feel?

Mendenhall: I feel great physically. I don't have any aches. It's so easy to like, bend down and grab DVDs from under the TV, things like that. It is really easy to move around, so physically I feel great. The one thing that I do miss is that, with that level of training, physically feeling like a superhero. Feeling that you can run as fast as a car, or that I could jump off a big building. You feel like you can do anything, and now to not feel like that, that's the one thing I do miss. I know that after a year off, with not doing as much, I know going forward I want to treat my body well and train my body to an extent where I can still have that feeling without having to push it or test it to the same extent, but still have the same peace within my body.

Q: So now that the first season of the show has wrapped, what's next?

Mendenhall: That's the thing, I'm always kind of ironing out and shaping it, always having a plan. It would be great to be back on the show, so I'll find that out soon. But other than that, I'm still putting together my collection of expressions. I still want to get that published and continue to write on Huff Post. For me, the thing I am passionate about is writing and there are all kind of forms that speak to me. That's my plan, and that's who I am outside of football.

Q: Do you think you're a rarity, in terms of knowing what you wanted to do when you stopped playing? Is the league and are teams doing enough to prepare guys for life after football?

Mendenhall: I think we do that a lot, as athletes. We put it into someone else's hands. "Oh, the league should prepare me." Really, as a player, you need to take it upon yourself, to where it's like, "Personally, I could leave." Really look into who we are, because for everybody, the game is going to stop at some point. For a lot of guys, it's high school. For some guys, it's after college. You could do two years in the league, you could do 12 years in the league. But at some point, it stops, no matter who you are, no matter how long you've been playing, Father Time always wins. It's going to stop at some point, and I believe it is on us personally to find out who we are, what we enjoy, so that when it's over, that we don't stop, that we don't stop living our lives. You need to know who you are outside this game.

Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.