Jon Dorenbos sat in a stadium suite in Minneapolis on Feb. 4 watching the team that he had played on for the previous 11 seasons about to win the Super Bowl. He expected to be there with his former teammates, but that was before the Eagles traded their longest-tenured player last August, one week before the season.
Dorenbos' joy mixed with pangs of bitterness in his near-broken heart. When a player leaves, he might say he gave his heart to the city. For Dorenbos, the Eagles' long snapper from 2006 through 2016, that was almost true.
Then he looked at his wife, who smiled back at him.
"How can this be bittersweet?" Dorenbos said. "If I play, I die."
