The Titans Leaving Taylor Lewan's Gear in Trash Bags on His Porch is the Perfect Metaphor for Life in the NFL

Mark Humphrey. Shutterstock Images.

It came as no surprise to Taylor Lewan or anyone else when he got released by the only team he had ever known last week:

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Even after 100 career starts, three Pro Bowls and nine seasons after being drafted 11th overall in 2014, God promises nobody a tomorrow. Lewan was limited to two games last year and just 20 over the last three seasons. And when you're the highest paid player at your position and injuries are taking their toll on you, the cold, hard, uncaring calculus of NFL roster-building takes charge. It's the business these men have chosen. Everyone knows it.

What fewer people know though, is this reality:

Even if Lewan was under no delusions:

That's your existence in the NFL. One day you're at a press conference celebrating your new contract. The next, you're gone. No card passed around the for everyone to sign. No party in the break room with cake and ice cream and everyone wishing you well. You're Going Away party is you finding all your stuff dumped on your front steps in Hefty bags, like the trash your old team considers it to be. 

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It's a cruel world. And you can't expect any handshakes or hugs as you're shown the door. Or boxes for your gear apparently. Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk might have inherited billions and had a stadium built for her by the taxpayers. But the cost of those cardboard moving boxes adds up. And once a player has used up his usefulness to you, what's the point of throwing good money after bad? The tree that no longer bears fruit gets chopped down and thrown on the fire. 

Just bear that in mind the next time a player you've got an emotional attachment to gets unceremoniously dumped by his team. In the end, they're all just metaphorically taken out with the trash. So buy a shirt.