Sean Lee Decided Not To Play On A Tweaked Hamstring And Gave Up A $2 Million Bonus In The Process

FoxSports- Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee clearly plays football for more reasons than money.

Lee, who made the decision to sit out Sunday's game because of a tweaked hamstring, cost himself a chance to trigger a $2 million bonus in his contract.

If Lee were to play 80 percent of the Cowboys' defensive snaps, he'd earn the extra money. Entering Sunday's game, Lee had played on just 82 percent of the team's defensive snaps, Pro Football Talk reported.

"It was me who decided to not play," Lee said. "I didn't feel like I would be effective enough to help the football team.

"I'm not going to disrespect my coaches and be out there not playing the right way."

Lee is in the second year of a six-year deal worth up to $42 million dollars. 



There's a thin line between honorable and stupid. By sitting on the sidelines and watching seven figures just fly out the window, like that type of money grows on trees, Sean Lee basically just long jumped into full blown retardation. I can only imagine he tripped over a blade of grass and somehow tore his meniscus in about thirteen different directions upon landing too. That's just what Sean Lee does. He gets hurt. The most surprising part of this story isn't even that he gave up a bunch of money out of consideration, it's that he's been healthy enough to get even moderately close to playing 80% of the snaps for the Dallas Cowboys this year. Don't get me wrong. I can respect Sean Lee for putting his teammates above himself, but I'll be damned if I can sit here and endorse it. 

"Oh, look at Sean Lee, what a hero! He gave up $2 million dollars for a bunch of guys that are closer to fucking his wife than doing the same for him. Talk about noble!". Congratulations Sean, I'm sure this will help you sleep at night, but it certainly won't pay for a higher thread count. You think Sean Lee even realizes that NFL contracts aren't guaranteed? You think he knows that one or two more injury plagued years could get that $42 million dollar deal terminated faster than Aretha Franklin can spell 'respect'? The NFL is a business and Sean Lee is fucking up the whole system by being selfless in a meaningless Week 17 game. Sean Lee could have just went out there and sat Indian-style in the middle of the defense and Jason Garrett probably wouldn't have noticed. Fuck playing the right way, the Cowboys defense is about 12 weeks removed from worrying about that. . 

There was no playoff spot at stake. The difference between 4-11 and 5-11 is literally nothing more than a shittier draft pick. Sean Lee's window to make money as a professional football player is far too small to be losing money in lost seasons. That's like the only advantage of being on a crappy team. The ability to go through the motions and earn a substantial paycheck in the process, just ask Brandon Browner. Can't wait until he goes home and tells his wife he pissed away two mill because he wanted to be nice guy. Just one more head injury the NFL has to worry about when she whacks him upside the head with a frying pan. Sean Lee should have just done what the rest of the Cowboys have done all season and pretended to give a fuck as opponents ran by him. Who cares what the coaches think? If that respect was mutual they wouldn't have trotted out half a dozen 4th string quarterbacks after Tony Romo went down. If respect was a theme of the Cowboys season then their biggest accomplishment this season wouldn't have been signing a domestic abusing sociopath. Sean Lee doesn't owe anyone respect, that franchise barely fucking respects itself.