Your health and ability to earn a living is the most valuable asset that you have. In addition to caring for your body you need to protect yourself and your family from the risk of injury or worse. Now that your football career is over you still have a lifetime of earnings to protect but you don’t have the same insurance benefits you did while playing. You have protection against a disability related to football, but not necessarily against a disability suffered during your second career. The average American has about a 1 in 4 chance of suffering some kind of disability during their work career.
While you were playing you had life insurance provided that went away when you retired. You don’t have to replace your football salary any more but you may need to replace your current income and the older you get the more expensive life insurance becomes.