The acronym for the National Football League (NFL) has also often been referred to as Not For Long. This is the harsh reality for most players that try to make it in the league as the average NFL career lasts only a couple of years with fringe players and camp bodies battling for roster spots, attempting to make an impression on their respective organizations.
In the case of FB Monte Pottebaum, not for long didn’t even mean making it to the padded practice portion of training camp.
However, Pottebaum left the game on his own accord, abruptly retiring from the Pittsburgh Steelers after signing with the team as a UDFA after the 2023 NFL Draft concluded. Many players were shocked when the news came out including fellow UDFA WR Jordan Byrd who got to know Pottebaum well before he decided to hang up his cleats.
“Seeing that guy leave, it was kind of heartbreaking,” Byrd said according to Brain Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He was a real hard worker and a real tough guy, and I’m sorry to hear that he left, but you’ve got to follow where your heart goes.”
No one really knows why Pottebaum walked away so abruptly from the game before he got a taste of preseason action. Some speculate that the business side of the game may have factored into the equation, having to overcome the odds to make the roster and may have decided to get on with life’s work instead. Having grown up just 30 minutes away from Pottebaum in Northwest Iowa, the rural environment of farm town life is a real thing, and that desire to continue to do that may have been there if he didn’t foresee himself sticking long on an NFL roster.
We may never know what the actual reason was for Pottebaum’s unexpected retirement, but needless to say, he left an impact on his teammates in the short time he was in Pittsburgh. Byrd spoke highly of him as one of those quintessential “tough Iowa farm boys” and drew plenty of attention from the media for his famous mullet. Regardless, we wish Pottebaum the best as he enters a new chapter in his life pursuing what he loves.
