And for a professional athlete, the choice is really stark - stop chasing that ball around and the only thing you're good for is flipping burgers.

let me introduce you to joshua dobbs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Dobbs

yes, he's not tom brady, although he was drafted a couple rounds higher than "the best quarterback ever."

and yet he still made literally millions of dollars being a mostly backup. he majored in aerospace engineering in college, and did an internship with nasa while playing professional football.

yep, there's a burger flipper. prolly made more money as a football player than he would have as a scientist, too.