A question springs to mind. If Taylor suddenly decided to be a massive dick, could he refuse to quit then start collecting the money? Is there anything built into the contract, or is it based on a honour system?
Pro football contracts are not guaranteed. The team could just cut him and he’d be owed no money.
If you really want to relish the “good old days” go back to when, if a team didn’t have a goalie (say both were injured in the same game) the other team had to provide their back-up goalie. Maybe the rule is still on the books. I’d love to see it happen. Goalies are just crazy enough that if they were playing against their own team they would stand on their head and use heavy munitions to prevent a goal.
You are right that the contracts are not guaranteed. However, I think there is a clause that if the player is on the roster for the first game the season the contract is honored. The team can’t put a guy on the roster for one or two games, decide he sucks or is injured and cut him. So, most certainly, in the case of the OP the team is not taking any risk and the player will never appear on the roster. I suppose that is a nitpick but the “no guarantee” doesn’t give the team carte blanche to screw over a player. The players get screwed over enough as it is.
Interesting, thanks for answering that. It seems like a very touching way to end your career.