A "stinger" isn't an uncommon football injury, but it's different when it happens to a player like Jameel McClain. That's just the way it is for an NFL player with spinal stenosis, when any neck injury could always be enough to end a career.
So yes, when McClain suffered a stinger earlier in training camp, retirement was a possibility. But it wasn't something he was ever close to seriously considering.
"That option is always out there," McClain said on Sunday. "It's something that's always in the air when you go through an injury like this. But I'm built different.