In reality Lattimore says it was a nightmare, via a SB Nation profile of Lattimore’s last few years from Jason Buckland.
“I went out there and put a smile on my face like everything was alright,” Lattimore said of his NFL career. “But it was hell. Every day.”
Lattimore admitted that he wouldn’t have drafted a guy with shot knees, believing the Niners did it because he was a really good person.
“I mean, why would you take a running back with two horrible knee injuries?” Lattimore asked. “I did pretty good, I played good in college, but if I’m a GM I don’t think I would do it.”
This wasn’t to disparage Trent Baalke, who drafted him with the 49ers. Read between the lines and you get the sense, though Baalke won’t admit it, that the team took a chance on Lattimore because of the kind of person he is.
“The odds were not in our favor, or at best they were 50/50,” Baalke said of Lattimore actually contributing. “If anyone was going to get back, it was going to be a young man like that.”
Lattimore is now focused on getting married, running football camps and possibly getting into coaching.
By Glenn Erby
