Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 9-18-20

Sports
Aqib Talib Retires
Dak Prescott Reveals
Rams Make Jalen Ramsey Highest Paid Cornerback In NFL History
JALEN RAMSEY
Throughout the negotiation process, cornerback Jalen Ramsey said he was not wor- ried about when his agent would come to terms with the Rams on a contract extension.
Four months later, Ramsey is now the highest-paid player at his position in NFL history.
The Rams announced they had agreed to terms with Ram- sey on a five-year contract. Terms were not disclosed but the deal is worth as much as $105M, with $71.2M in guaran- tees.
Ramsey, 25, will earn about $21M per season. That smashes the record Tre’Davi- ous White of the Buffalo Bills established recently when he signed a five-year, $82.5M deal that included $55M in guaran- tees.
Steelers Linebacker Ryan Shazier Officially Retiring
RYAN SHAZIER
Pittsburgh Steelers line- backer Ryan Shazier is retir- ing from the NFL.
The football player, 28, shared a video message posted on social media, where he re- vealed that he is leaving the sport nearly three years after suffering a spinal injury during a 2017 football game.
"It's been over 1,000 days since I got hurt on the field," Shazier said in the video, ad- dressing his retirement. "To lose the game in the way I never envisioned has not been easy. When you play the game of football the way I did, you convince yourself you're Super- man. That nothing can stop you. But then, the moment I got hurt, I stopped being Su- perman. And that was difficult to make sense [of]."
Older Bro Killed
From NFL Despite
Himself: 'He Had A Lot
'Nice' $6M Offer
Of Burdens On Him'
From Patriots
Dak Prescott just re- vealed his older brother took his own life this past spring ... and the Dallas Cowboys QB says he's still having a hard time coping with it all.
"I'll never get another hug in my life like the ones he gave," Prescott said of his big brother, Jace. "He was my best friend."
Jace tragically died at 31 years old in April ... but the family hadn't disclosed the cause of death until Dak and his other brother, Tad, sat down for a recent interview with Graham Bensinger.
The two Prescott broth- ers were extremely emotional talking about Jace's death ... with Dak saying he believes their mom's 2013 fatal battle with colon cancer took an in- describable toll on Jace.
"Jace at the time was fin- ishing with school and was home, was with her and watched it," said 27-year-old Dak, who was away from home playing at Mississippi State at the time.
"She couldn't necessarily hide it from Jace because he was there every day. He saw
DAK PRESCOTT AND JACE PRESCOTT
the times where she would have to spend probably 10- plus hours throwing up, this and that, and saw the medi- cine she had to take."
"And, almost, you can't even put into the words the burden," Dak continued. "It's something only Jace knew. And he didn't necessarily share that. And Jace was never really much of a talker so when something like that was a huge burden on him, he didn't know how to share it. He didn't know how to be vul- nerable about it."
Dak says he was asleep when Jace died by suicide ... saying his father had to wake him up and deliver "some of the worst news that I'll ever get."
Aqib Talib is calling it a career -- saying he's retiring from the NFL, despite a multi- million offer from the New England Patriots.
"Aqib Talib is officially retired," the 34-year-old de- fensive back said on the "Call to the Booth" show ... "I'm bringing my talents to the booth."
After the season, Talib told himself he would play one more year "as long as some- body give me a nice check ... or if someone gave me a nice role."
That's when Talib says he got a call from his former coach, Bill Belichick -- who wanted to bring Aqib back to New England for one final sea- son.
"My guy, my big homie Bill Belichick called my phone man, told me that he had the role of a lifetime for me," Talib said.
Talib says the role was to basically cover tight ends -- and initially, Aqib loved the idea.
Talib says New England's offer was around the $6 mil- lion mark!
AQIB TALIB
evaluating the monsters play- ing tight end in the NFL right now -- from George Kittle to Travis Kelce -- he quickly re- considered.
"I looked at this schedule and the thought 'Can I even strap these damn tight ends?!'"
"Once that negative thought crossed my mind, man my heart, my competitive edge -- like I ain't really in it like that no more ... I just was- n't feeling it no more hon- estly."
Talib continued, "You gotta play this game with heart. If you don't play with heart, that's how you get real injuries, concussions and bad injuries when you out here playing nervous and things like that."
But, when Aqib started
Colin Kaepernick
Returns To Madden For First Time Since 2016
Colin Kaepernick is back in the game — on the vir- tual gridiron.
For the first time since the 2016 season, when the former San Francisco 49ers signal- caller began kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality and police brutality in the United States, Kaepernick returned to the Madden NFL video game last Tuesday, EA Sports an- nounced.
Kaepernick, who re- mains unsigned by an NFL team, makes his virtual NFL comeback as the top free- agent quarterback in Madden
COLIN KAEPERNICK
21, with an 81 overall rating. His rating places him among the elite quarterbacks on Madden 21 and in the top 15 of the video game’s 111 total quarterbacks.
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