Chargers wanted Tomlinson for 10-12 carries a game

It's hard for a professional athlete to retire. You no longer have an extraordinary stream of money coming in, the cheering stops and no more free travel and perks. It's not rare for your former team to ask you to come back but usually it's in a front office capacity.

Former San Diego Charger great LaDainian Tomlinson told Yahoo's Michael Silver that new San Diego general manager Tom Telesco and coach Mike McCoy asked him to come out of retirement and play for the team this season. 

Tomlinson will be 34 in June never entertained the thought of playing again but was surprised by the offer.

"I met [new general manager] Tom Telesco and [rookie head coach] Mike McCoy at the [NFL scouting] combine, and they asked me to come back and play," Tomlinson said. "I saw [executive vice president] John Spanos at a restaurant in Indy, and he introduced me to them, and they brought it up. At first I thought they weren't really serious, but they kept talking about it, and I realized it was real. They said, 'You can come back and carry it 10 or 12 times a game. We'd like to have you here.' " Though flattered, Tomlinson said he didn't seriously consider the offer: "No, because when I made the decision to walk away, I wrestled with it long and hard, and I knew it was final. Once I retired, that was it. My mind is in a different place. Mentally, going back would have been too hard."

I guess that shows how much confidence they have in their incumbent running back Ryan Mathews. They signed former New England Patriot Danny Woodhead in the offseason and now asked the guy he basically replaced to come in for a cameo appearance.