The length of an average NFL career is just 3.3 years, one of the lowest across professional sports. Former Pittsburgh Steeler and Super Bowl champion, Ryan Clark, played for 13 long seasons. Even longer, 18 years, if we consider his college stint with LSU. That, he thinks, might have something to do with why he’s not a great dancer.
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While age inevitably catches up, playing in the NFL is guaranteed to rapidly accelerate the wear and tear on an athlete’s body. Having endured everything from concussions to requiring the removal of his spleen and gallbladder after a game in Denver, Clark certainly took his fair share of licks during his time in the league.
And his NFL success and career longevity meant losing the dance moves he was so adept at as a teenager.
“I could give you everything in high school,” recalled Clark. “Now, it’s a very limited sort of scale of dance moves that I could do.”
Clark misses those fancy moves — the pop-locking, among others. It seems, back in the day, he could light up the dance floor, though not in the league of, say, musician Chris Brown.
“I’m not Chris Brown… I’m not pop-locking, I can’t krump… I can’t do all that. There is a rigidness to my body that football has created that I am no longer what I used to be,” said Clark.
Clark may not have had many touchdown dances throughout his career, but he still has plenty of reasons to cut a rug from time to time. Despite starting his NFL career as an undrafted free agent, the LSU product still managed to net $22,453,647 in career earnings, as per OverTheCap.
Now fearing that he won’t “…be able to catch the beat,” the former pro bowler has retired himself from the dance floor.
However, Clark and football fans need not lose heart. There are plenty of current players who can keep the celebrations going.
NFL players that can get down and dirty on the dance floor
Speaking of Chris Brown, the Miami Dolphins’ dynamic receiving threat, Tyreek Hill, once managed to pull off a tribute to one of the pop star’s most recognized musicals, Stomp the Yard. Hill’s celebrations are just as iconic as the plays he’s made throughout his career, proving that the league is home to some of the world’s best athletes and the best dancers.
Likewise, there’s certainly plenty of spry left in Justin Jefferson’s step. The NFL’s premier wide receiver has been dancing in opposing end zones for five years now, with his “Griddy” touchdown dance being one of the most recognizable celebrations in football history.
Travis Kelce is famously a big fan of moving his body to a good beat. His TD dances have become something that every fan looks forward to. Those hips aren’t getting stiff anytime soon.
Rookie Xavier Worthy is set to bring his dance moves to the biggest stage in football on February 9 when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
So, as long as these receivers are around, there will still be plenty of dancing in the NFL.
