In the wake of the release of Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin last week, and his unofficial retirement thread posted on social media Sunday, some fans have wondered why he hasn’t simply made an official retirement announcement. The answer to that is very simple, in that it comes down to the requirements of the collective bargaining agreement to collect the injury protection payments to which he may be entitled following his release with an injury designation.
Specifically, just like the situation evolved with Kam Chancellor following his neck injury during the 2017 season, had he officially retired he would have forfeited the portions of his 2018 and 2019 base salaries which were covered by injury protections.