Jonathan Martin deletes Tweet about long-term health and football

We'll be back with plenty more training camp coverage throughout the day, but I found this a bit fascinating. Former (briefly) San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Jonathan Martin announced his retirement earlier this year, and over the weekend he briefly tweeted about it. Right now, you'll see these tweets:

Gonna miss football... Was always my dream to play in the NFL. Proud to say I did it, the right way, even if for not as long as I wanted

— Jonathan A. Martin (@J_Martin71) August 10, 2015

Nothin but love for my Panthers & 49ers teammates

— Jonathan A. Martin (@J_Martin71) August 10, 2015

It's interesting he specifically referenced the Panthers and 49ers, but not the Dolphins. Not surprising, but interesting nonetheless. However, there is also one tweet absent. A Panthers blog got a screenshot of that tweet:

The most interesting aspect of that, to me, is the final line about the job not being worth having to use a wheelchair at 50. Martin suffered a back injury this offseason, and decided to call it quits. Mike Garafolo reported it might be a "for now" kind of retirement, but this tweet would seem to indicate it is a more permanent kind of retirement. Of course, that also might be why Martin deleted the tweet. He might actually think he will return, and so he did not want that out there. But as we know, nothing is ever really deleted on Twitter.

If Martin does in fact have concern about being in a wheelchair at 50, it's an interesting decision in light of the 49ers numerous retirements. Anthony Davis might be pondering a return, but all indications are that Chris Borland will not be cutting his retirement short.

Fooch's update: I just came across an article with several quotations from Martin's agent. It says Martin might go to law school, and there is zero chance he returns to football.