is he "can't" play because of this, he'll just go on the ltir for the rest of the contract, and there will be no recapture penalties (if he just retired, there would be a 4.275 cap hit for each of the 4 remaining years of his contract). it's been speculated for years that some injury would force him into retirement near the end of his contract. and 17-18 also happens to be the year his actual salary drops down to 1 million.