Undrafted rookie offensive lineman Zein Obeid abruptly retired on Monday. The Detroit native and Ferris State grad is the fourth player to retire from the Lions since the offseason activities began.
Obeid joins defensive tackle John Penisini, wide receiver Corey Sutton and cornerback Jermaine Waller as Lions who have hung up their cleats since minicamp. Obeid, Sutton and Waller are all undrafted rookies, while Penisini was entering his third season.
It’s a little alarming to see so many players walk away from not just the Lions, but the game of football itself. Head coach Dan Campbell addressed the concern prior to Monday’s practice session.
“I know why you’re asking it,” Campbell said after being asked for more elaboration on the retirements. “I just feel like — everybody’s different. Look, (the NFL) is not for everybody. Not everything is easy about it. And it’s not just about football.”
On Obeid, Campbell offered this,
“I wish him the best of luck. He’s a great kid, a grinder. He worked. And so, on with the next endeavor.”
When asked about if the team can do a better job in evaluating football character to avoid situations like this in the future, Campbell stated that’s already something the Lions are working upon.
“Sure. We had the first one (Waller) back in the spring, (Lions GM) Brad (Holmes) was already looking at those things,” Campbell said. “That’s something that Brad is always real critical about for himself. No different than we are as coaches as it pertains to the football side. So yeah, we’re going to look at everything. (Holmes) is looking at things I wouldn’t even think about looking at, as deep as we can dig.”
Campbell noted that three of the four were hard workers and “you’d never guess” they were thinking about retiring from football. He did not elaborate on the outlier.
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