Retired Colts DL Ellis Johnson: 'Don't ever feel sorry for a man who flies his own plane'

Well, if we're going to publish lengthy thinkpieces and angry screeds about the precarious mental and physical states of retired NFLers, it only seems fair that we make room for other perspectives as well.  

Former Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman Ellis Johnson, for his part, is doing just fine in retirement thank you very much. He recently described his decidedly un-bitter post-NFL life in an interview with Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star. 

"Make no mistake, this is an unbelievable period of my life," said the man who spent 149 NFL games, from 1995-2004, doing battle on the front line. "There's not a sad story to tell.

"I'm so happy."

Asked if he was experiencing any post-football issues related to head trauma from, you know, the decade of colliding several hundred times a year with freakishly large offensive linemen, Johnson laughed.

"No, no, no. My faculties are just fine," he said. "I fly my own plane, for Pete's sake. I tell people all the time my body hurts sometimes, but don't ever feel sorry for a man that flies his own plane.

"Believe me, I'm good."

And so he continued:

This is the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. I've got my kids, I've got a great girlfriend, I've got an unbelievable house.

[...]

I've flown everywhere and I love it. Having your own plane opens up the world to you. I can fly anywhere, makes no difference.

I like scuba diving and I can just get in my plane and go someplace. I go down to the Keys all the time."

In no way does this suggest that the brain trauma and other physical impairments being suffered by former former pro football players aren't very real and very serious. It also doesn't mean that those ailments won't catch up to Johnson in due time. 

But, for now at least, while dispatches from the post-football life (and the continuing push to investigate the science behind it) become harder and harder to ignore, it's nice to read that one of these guys is still enjoying his life. 

"Life is pretty slick," says Johnson. "It's worked out perfectly."

Here's hoping it lasts.