Every progression upwards by any athlete obviously increases the level of the competition. And somewhere the Peter Principle comes into effect: they reach their level of mediocrity. It happens at every sports level. So many live on talent alone but the NFL is something completely different.
Size, speed, reads, schemes...you need talent, instincts and/or great intelligence to succeed. And finally desire...is it time to rest with the first very big paycheck or make it bigger? Not really much different from any business in that sense.
