GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Retirement crossed Ahmad Brooks' mind.
The San Francisco 49ers had just cut him last month. The Bay area -- first San Francisco, then San Jose -- had been his home for the past nine years.
Maybe he would just go back to his native Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., with his three kids, ages 9, 2 and 1.
"I was pessimistic at first because I was afraid of change, you know what I'm saying?" Brooks said. "I'm so comfortable being where I'm at, having a house and my family and stuff like that.