The 5 O’Clock Club: Is it enough to be in the NFL, or do you have to play to be happy?

The 5 o’clock club is published from time to time during the season, and aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

Imagine you meet a particularly perverse genie in a bottle who doesn’t offer the traditional 3 open-ended wishes, but gives you a strangely specific choice, with the option of taking his offer or choosing to continue the life you have.

If you take his option, you will immediately be aged 21 (in 2023) on the day you graduate from college. If you didn’t graduate from college in your current life, don’t worry — you will if you take his offer.

The genie is going to put you into the NFL for 10 seasons. After age 31, you will be on your own; you’ll have to make your own way in the world, but for ten years from now till then you will be signed to an NFL contract — and he’ll even let you pick which team you want to be on. The catch is that you will never play in an NFL game; instead, you will spend 10 seasons on practice squads earning practice squad money, and then the genie’s influence over your life will end.