Twenty four-years-old. Guaranteed to become a multi-millionaire over the next few years. Chris Borland had his whole career in front of him. And then last week he announced he was retiring from American football.

Borland was an NFL outside linebacker — a defender — and had a terrific debut season, winning the defensive rookie of the month award in November.

His future was bright and his team, the San Francisco 49ers’ were paying him $3 million per year.

But worried about his health after his suffering a concussion in training camp last pre-season, Borland decided that money wasn’t everything to him — he gave back three quarters ($463,077) of his signing bonus — and that his long-term health was more important.

Head injuries and concussions are common in the sport and the league have been in a fierce legal battle with former players over the past few years about paying compensation to retired players.

Former stars have developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia and certain cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE (a neuropathological finding) diagnosed after death, all through head-related injuries while playing the game.

Should they lose the case, they will be forced to pay a hefty amount of money to over 20,000 former and current players. And it is looking increasingly likely that they will.

A judge rejected a $675m settlement in January and the latest figure is said to be around $6.75 billion.

So with that going on in the background, the league has attempted to change the rules by stopping players tackling helmet-first and are currently looking to get rid of the opening kick-off which is often seen as the most dangerous and violent play in the game (some of the hits players receive when the game starts would make anyone wince).

But Borland wasn’t waiting for the day the league guaranteed that players would never suffer concussions and was more concerned with life after he hung up his pads and helmet.

Having watched him play a few times last season, you wouldn’t have thought he worried about head injuries.

He was a monster and tackled players like he had no care in the world.

But clearly it was was something he had in the back of his mind and, credit to him, he stepped away before his body and brain took serious damage.

“There was a moment in camp where I sustained a mild concussion,” revealed Borland. “And it wasn’t something that was detrimental to my health immediately but it changed the way I viewed the risks of my chosen profession.

“I didn’t want to go down a route that could for years be ultimately detrimental to my health.

“I was concerned about neurological diseases down the road if I continued to play football, so I did a lot of research and gathered a lot of information and to me the decision made sense.

“I’m only taking the money I’ve earned. To me it’s just about health and nothing else.

“I never played the game for money or attention. I love football. I’ve had a blast. I don’t regret the last 10 years of my life at all. I’d do it over the exact same way.”

The decision received mixed feedback.

No amount of money in the world can compensate for a serious illness in 30 years time.

Borland may be the first to step away from the NFL over fears about head injuries but I don’t think he will be the last.
And there will be parents thinking twice about telling their children to pursue a career in American football.

The 24-year-old has shown his former colleagues that they have a choice.

Previously, no-one looked into the relationship between players who suffered multiple concussions during their career and deteriorating health issues once they had retired but now they have, the issue cannot be ignored and Borland felt it wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.

What was disheartening was the response from the league itself. They churned out statistics of the decrease in concussions — 25 per cent or so they say — over the past few seasons and the rise in participation levels among children.

They even got NFL franchise Pittsburgh Steelers neurosurgeon Dr Joseph Maroon to defend the game and imply that kids were more at risk riding their bikes than playing football.

Really? Did anyone buy that? No.

It is as if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is afraid that the 49ers linebacker has started a trend of players walking away from the game and future players deciding they don’t want to compete in the league.

“You have to respect his decision,” he said. “It’s his judgment. As you point out, players retire all of the time.

“They make those determinations. They balance a lot of issues that are sometimes personal to them.”

Respect his decision they should. Junior Seau, Dave Duerson and Mike Webster are three former players who committed suicide and were diagnosed with CTE after their tragic deaths.

Borland ultimately did not want to see his life go down that path.