Maybe the Dallas Cowboys have lost their appeal.
Less than 24 hours after agreeing to one-year contract to join the Cowboys, Pro Bowl guard Brandon Moore decided on Wednesday that he was going to retire instead, according to ESPN.
Moore, who might be best known for his role in Mark Sanchez‘s epic “butt fumble” last Thanksgiving, played 10 seasons with the New York Jets and became recognized as one of the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen over the course of his career. So, the Cowboys’ desire to add him as one of Tony Romo‘s primary protectors is completely understandable. Yet, so is Moore’s decision not to continue on with his NFL career.
Moore cited a desire to spend more time with his family and not to uproot his life as reasons behind his decision.
“I was wrestling with it all day, going back and forth with my wife and family,” Moore said on Wednesday. “Finally, we decided, ‘Let’s go ahead and do it.’ I didn’t sleep at all. I was wrestling with it. I realized it was too late in the game to uproot my family. I called my agent and said, ‘I can’t do it.’
“I played the game for 10 years. I lived in a house. I didn’t have to go from team to team, so this would’ve been a big transition for me,” Moore continued. “You really don’t grasp it until you actually agree to something. Then it was like, ‘Wow, I have to leave tomorrow for California.'”
Moore, 33, will forfeit almost $2 million by not signing with the Cowboys. He would have been guaranteed a $500,000 signing bonus and $1.25 million base salary for 2013 under the deal. He also had $250,000 in playing time bonuses that he could earn for the upcoming season.
As for his, maybe undeserved, connection to the butt fumble incident, Moore laughed it off, dismissing the notion that it in any way defines his career.
“It’s amusing to me to me that people think it’s so amusing,” Moore said. “The way I look at it, I don’t think it should have any link to my career. I don’t think it stands for what I was as a player for 10 years. I really don’t give it much thought.”
The Cowboys will now have to look elsewhere for help along their offensive line — and they need it.
Have a question for Luke Hughes? Send it to him via Twitter at @LukeFHughes or send it here.
