Bralon Addison@BralonAddison2
Letter to 5-Year-Old BA
Young fella, what’s up? It’s future you… 27 years into the future.
First off, I’m proud of you. This is your first year playing ball and you did great. Let me update you!
Along the way you broke your ankle and your elbow, which had to be fixed in middle school, and you even thought about giving up football… but you loved it too much.
In high school you came back and became 2× District MVP, 2× All-State, an All-American, and played in the U.S. Army All-American Game.
Recruiting got crazy — you committed to three schools 😂 — but you chose Oregon.
At Oregon you became a 2× All-Pac-12 performer, once even after tearing your ACL and meniscus and fighting your way back.
At the pro level you bounced around the NFL for a year and ended up in Canada, where you earned your first professional All-Pro. You played another seven years in Canada and bounced back from five more surgeries.
You overcame every obstacle — many people thought you wouldn’t come back from some of them.
Be forever proud of that.
With that being said…
It’s time, young fella.
After 27 years — all the accolades, surgeries, blood, sweat, and tears — it’s time to hang up the cleats.
You did it.
You became a professional football player.
At every level you played, you had “ALL” in front of your name — and nobody can ever take that away.
There are people across North America who know your name. Kids named after you. Fans wearing your jersey. Your face hanging on the wall at your high school.
Be proud. Be grateful. Head high.
To my friends, family, teammates, coaches, scouts, trainers, equipment managers, and video staff — thank you.
Special thanks to June Jones for the second chance and Shawn Burke for believing in me.
To my agent Rob, thank you.
To my parents Sonya and Julius — thank you for giving me life and always standing by my side.
And to Young BA…
I love you, kid, and I’m proud of you.
The story of Bralon Addison the football player is coming to an end.
But we still have a lot more story to write.
This is my official retirement.
BA out 🫡
