Due in part to injuries, Champ Bailey didn’t look like his normal himself during his final season with the Denver Broncos in 2013. Age caught up to Bailey and — seemingly for the first time in his career — he struggled in coverage.
That was nearly seven years ago and although Bailey appears to still be in great shape, he knows his playing days are well behind him.
“I do not think I could still play,” Bailey said during a conference call with reporters Monday. “I could probably play in a game or two and play pretty good. But I could not go through the grind that those guys go through every week. There’s absolutely no way my 41-year-old self could do that.
“People think it’s just easy to go back out there, but I think a lot of people have proven everybody wrong that it’s not that easy. You can’t just get up off the couch and go out there. These guys are professionals, and I have a lot more respect for the game.”
Bailey was voted into the team’s Ring of Honor on Monday and he will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
He’s perfectly content to talk about his career in the past tense. Bailey, a 12-time Pro Bowler, will go down as one of the best cornerbacks in NFL history and as the best cornerback in Broncos history.
