Last week,San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland surprised everyone by retiring from the NFL at the age of 24 due to long-term health concerns. Today, he told CBS’s Face the Nation that he’ll be returning three-quarters of his signing bonus (roughly $463,077) to the Niners voluntarily, after fulfilling only one season of his four-year rookie contract. While you may think that that’s already a sign of head trauma, the franchise had the rights to reclaim a pro-rated chunk of Borland’s bonus anyway. Still, Pro Football Talk points out a route many of his contemporaries may have gone.

Chris Borland should be praised for giving back bonus; he could have simply half-assed it in camp this year, gotten cut, and kept the money.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 22, 2015

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