COMMENT: By staying retired, Plummer is true to himself

Jake Plummer insists his long, strange football journey is over. And he deserves applause.

Not for his dazzling ability. It’s his imagination that inspires admiration.

NFL training camps open July 27, but Plummer isn’t preparing for football. He’s departed the road full of riches everyone expects him to travel and instead walks, boldly and unapologetically, along his own path.

He has enough money for a comfy life, so why risk his health at the hands of marauding linebackers? He could earn $5.3 million this season to serve as backup quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a task that demands such crucial tasks as carrying a clipboard.

Instead, he announced his retirement March 8.

Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden keeps saying he hopes the quarterback shows up for training camp, but Plummer keeps repeating he’s done. Never one to be bothered by details, he hasn’t done the paperwork required for official retirement.

Free from football, he spends his summer wandering the wilderness of northern Idaho. He’s cherishes his freedom, which, of course, is never free. This is especially true in Jake’s case.

If Plummer, who’s only 32, sticks with his plan to retire, he must return $7 million in bonus money to the Buccaneers. That’s on top of $15.9 million in salary he left behind.

None of this surprises Steve Vogel, Plummer’s close friend and his coach at Boise Capital High School.

Vogel first met Plummer when the Snake was a 110-pound freshman. The coach instantly realized he was looking at a special player and an authentic rebel.

Plummer led Capital to a state title and never strayed from his commitment to do what he wants, when he wants.

Right now, Jake wants, like Greta Garbo, to be left alone.

“He just wants to be Jake, the guy next door,” Vogel said from his home in Boise. “Jake just likes being to himself.”

Plummer seldom enjoyed the luxury of “being to himself” while living in Colorado.

Fans wanted more. The shadow of John Elway didn’t darken his life. Mr. Colorado galloped into the sunset in 1999 and those who love the Broncos began to realize a once-in-lifetime quarterback arrives, well, once in a lifetime.

But Jake was expected to enjoy himself — or at least behave himself — while he being the center of the state’s sporting attention.

He never quite became the quarterback fans desired, largely because he never quite grew up.

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan begins each game with 15 meticulously plotted plays. Quarterbacks spend two sessions each Saturday reviewing these plays. The preparation is intense, borderline obsessive.

Last season, on the first play of a game, Plummer turned to Shanahan and shouted, “What’s the play?” He had, incredibly, forgotten the call. At that instant, he guaranteed the ascension of Jay Cutler. The Broncos traded Plummer to the Buccaneers in March.

It wasn’t just Jake’s mistakes on the field. He could be an unruly brat. He flipped off a fan at Invesco Field, tumbled into a nasty traffic dispute in south Denver and cussed out a gossip columnist.

He did a magnificent job of hiding his best side. Plummer works tirelessly for charity, especially Alzheimer’s research. He’s loyal to his Boise high school friends, who insist fame hasn’t polluted his soul.

Every Christmas he gave each member of the Broncos organization a gift certificate to a steak house. Well, everyone except mega-rich owner Pat Bowlen.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and his wife enjoyed three meals, courtesy of Plummer, during the seasons he served as assistant coach with the Broncos.

Plummer could be a touch wild, Calhoun confirmed, but there was always a touch of innocence and kindness.

“There weren’t any dull moments with Jake,” Calhoun said. “There’s a lot of spark to him, but there’s this one part where he was enjoyable. Deep down, I thought he was a pretty grateful guy.”

He had a good chunk of football left in him. Plummer wasn’t blessed with the physical gifts or the mind to join the ranks of elite NFL quarterbacks, but he could have followed 43-year-old Vinny Testaverde and earned big paychecks for doing basically nothing.

Testaverde, who took his first NFL snaps during Reagan’s second term, served as Tom Brady’s backup/caddie last season with the New England Patriots.

Calhoun wondered if Plummer’s psyche would allow him to play backup. After spending a decade as a starter, it seems Plummer could not stomach standing on the sideline with nothing to do.

“That really tells you he doesn’t play football for the money,” Calhoun said. “If he did, he would go work as a backup.”

Plummer could pocket $5.3 million but instead walks the less profitable path. He roams the backwoods of his home state and enjoys his own extremely expensive brand of freedom.

Good for him.