Whatever happened to Aaron Schobel?

[Paup 1995MVP]

1 hour ago, Peevo said:

It's been forever since I've posted anything, but something struck a nerve when listening to Howard Simon this morning.

 

Howard and Jeremy were debating whether Jerry Hughes qualifies as a Wall of Famer, and Schobel's name inevitably came up.  Schobel has 55 more sacks than Hughes, despite being on TERRIBLE teams.

 

Schobel retired a career Bill, with 4 double-digit sack seasons, an All Pro, 2 Pro Bowl appearances.  

 

But yet, what the hell happened to the guy?  A quick google search reveals literally 0 media appearances since his retirement.  The last time his name was PUBLISHED in any sort of NFL media was 2010, regarding his retirement.  

 

The dude is a ghost.  

 

No charity events, no interviews, no signings/conventions/appearances of any kind that I can find.

 

And one could debate whether a player's community impact matters in the Wall of Fame discussion.

 

But I'd certainly argue being visible and proud of your career as a Bill SHOULD count in some ways.  Look at Stevie Johnson, Aaron Williams' social media feeds/NFL Draft appearances.  There's plenty of other examples.

 

Hell, even Marshawn Lynch "Lead the Charge" last season!  He was a Bill for like 3 seasons.

 

This dude played fulltime NFL football, at a very high level, FOR A DECADE. And never was heard from again.

 

I'd NEVER fault a man for performing well at a job he doesn't like.  That's life.

 

But I mean this sincerely, did Schobel ever actually like his job?  

 

Unless I'm bad at the internet, which is certainly possible, does ANYONE know anything about this guy since he left 12 years ago?

 

 

Schobel was a very good player in a dark decade for the Bills.  He was not a social media type of guy.  He was a country Texan boy.  Always was a little surly a little cranky.  But not a total jerk.  (It was probably tough to be real happy playing football on those Bills teams.  Although the 6 game run in late 2004 was fun.  Unfortunately it collapsed like a house of cards against Pittsburgh in the last game of the season.  Ouch that was an ugly one.  The ghost of Willie Parker still roams the earth.)  But the guy could play.  

 

As to the debate about whether Jerry Hughes is a Wall of Famer.  I lean towards no.  He was a good player (but never a great player) for a lot of years.  No shame in that.  The wall needs to be for the best who wore the Bills jersey in my opinion.  Cornelius Bennett Eric Moulds and Kyle Williams should be up there.  

[teef]

30 minutes ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

 

Lol, you remember back a few years before he retired some posters complained about DE's were white guys and wanted black DE's (Bills message board).

 

 

i don't, but i 100% take your word for it.  by any chance do you remember the bowphet?

[Don Otreply]

Could just be that football is not all his life is about, could also be that he is happy as hell to not have anything to do with the NFL anymore, 

[Patrick Duffy]

Just now, teef said:

i don't, but i 100% take your word for it.  by any chance do you remember the bowphet?

Sounds familiar, but doesn't stick out to me at the moment. There's about 5 or 6 from back then that are hard to forget lol. Thrasher77's molten hot lava anger really sticks out LOL

[teef]

1 minute ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

Sounds familiar, but doesn't stick out to me at the moment. There's about 5 or 6 from back then that are hard to forget lol. Thrasher77's molten hot lava anger really sticks out LOL

thrasher77 hated life, and life hated thrasher77.

 

the bowphet was a guy who posted under two different names...the bowman body and the prophet.  he would often agree with himself and keep his own, completely insane threads going on and on.  at least once a week the guy would forget what name he was posting under, and carry on conversations that he shouldn't have been it.  he was also kicked off the cowboys message board for it.  there, the claimed the two know each other from vietnam.  

[Patrick Duffy]

1 minute ago, teef said:

thrasher77 hated life, and life hated thrasher77.

 

the bowphet was a guy who posted under two different names...the bowman body and the prophet.  he would often agree with himself and keep his own, completely insane threads going on and on.  at least once a week the guy would forget what name he was posting under, and carry on conversations that he shouldn't have been it.  he was also kicked off the cowboys message board for it.  there, the claimed the two know each other from vietnam.  

 

Ahh yeah, I remember prophet for sure. I do recall the other name now that you clarified a bit lol. Many fascinating ppl lol

[Captain Hindsight]

1 hour ago, Peevo said:

 

Sure, but I don't think the point of my post is sorta gaining traction.

 

He was a public figure for a decade on an NFL team, and now has 0 public presence.  That's certainly his prerogative.  But man, you'd think the 2nd all time sack leader would do a radio appearance once in a DECADE.

 

Has he ever come back to Buffalo for Jim Kelly's golf tournament or something?  That's what I'm talking about.  Like choosing to engage with the alumni community.  

 

It just doesn't make sense to me at all.

You often go back to your old company events?

[NoHuddleKelly12]

40 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

So Jim, Thurman, Bruce, and Andre don't belong there?

 

4 AFC Championships! 🤗 Even more AFCE Championships! 

[CoudyBills]

2 hours ago, Allen2Diggs said:

Schobel always seemed like a quiet, reserved guy so I'm not surprised that he doesn't have much of a media presence.

 

He has extremely productive, but the team was pretty lousy during his tenure. 

 

In my opinion, if we have to debate whether a player is worthy of the Wall of Fame, then they're not. Hughes was a productive player, but the Bills WOF should be reserved for legendary players who won championships.

 

Also, we need to take OJ Simpson's name off the wall.

Win championships...cool.  Who you removing first?

[EasternOHBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Shake_My_Head said:

 

Oh boo hoo.   Schoebel is no different than Phil Hanson, Jim Ritcher, Shane Conlan, Joe Devlin, Nate Odems, Henry Jones, Ted Washington, Will Wolford....

 

I have met half of them since they retired, so TRY AGAIN!!! Hilarious.

[aristocrat]

I feel like I remember him visiting the team 4-5 years ago. 

[Peevo]

48 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

You often go back to your old company events?

 

No, but I wasn't a professional football player at my old job.  And the Jim Kelly tournament isn't a TEAM event.  It's a Jim Kelly event.  But he definitely invites former players to it all the time.  

It's just an observation is all.  A reliably, proven former veteran just seems like he fell off the face of the earth. 

 

Eric Wood does radio/TV.   Jim/Andre/Thurman are still around.  Freaking JP LOSMAN did John Murphy's radio show within the last 5 years.  Ryan Fitzpatrick, an ACTIVE NFL QB attended a Bills playoff game. 

 

Kevin Everett did a long form interview with the Athletic.  Torrell Troup did a long form interview with Tim Graham in the last 5 or so years. There's plenty of examples here.

 

There's no standard of alumni behavior or anything.  This thread is going pages deep.  Fans still respect/care about the guy.  Why isn't that reciprocated in some way?

 

As a child of the drought/Millennial Bills fan, Schobel was like the 1 really good player you could point to in the lean years. I'd be willing to bet some fans still show up to games in his (terrible looking) jersey.

 

And for a guy to be so good, and just completely erase that chapter of his life from the fanbase seems strange. That's really all I'm getting at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Buffalo716]

3 hours ago, Peevo said:

It's been forever since I've posted anything, but something struck a nerve when listening to Howard Simon this morning.

 

Howard and Jeremy were debating whether Jerry Hughes qualifies as a Wall of Famer, and Schobel's name inevitably came up.  Schobel has 55 more sacks than Hughes, despite being on TERRIBLE teams.

 

Schobel retired a career Bill, with 4 double-digit sack seasons, an All Pro, 2 Pro Bowl appearances.  

 

But yet, what the hell happened to the guy?  A quick google search reveals literally 0 media appearances since his retirement.  The last time his name was PUBLISHED in any sort of NFL media was 2010, regarding his retirement.  

 

The dude is a ghost.  

 

No charity events, no interviews, no signings/conventions/appearances of any kind that I can find.

 

And one could debate whether a player's community impact matters in the Wall of Fame discussion.

 

But I'd certainly argue being visible and proud of your career as a Bill SHOULD count in some ways.  Look at Stevie Johnson, Aaron Williams' social media feeds/NFL Draft appearances.  There's plenty of other examples.

 

Hell, even Marshawn Lynch "Lead the Charge" last season!  He was a Bill for like 3 seasons.

 

This dude played fulltime NFL football, at a very high level, FOR A DECADE. And never was heard from again.

 

I'd NEVER fault a man for performing well at a job he doesn't like.  That's life.

 

But I mean this sincerely, did Schobel ever actually like his job?  

 

Unless I'm bad at the internet, which is certainly possible, does ANYONE know anything about this guy since he left 12 years ago?

 

 

All accounts about schobel was that he was a hard-working guy from Texas 

 

Some of those blue collar guys don't care about the glitz and glamor or the whole high-profile lifestyle

 

He played football and probably went home and rode horses or raised cattle

[GustheDog33]

I was more of a Ryan Denney guy... Where has he been?

[Gugny]

3 minutes ago, Peevo said:

 

No, but I wasn't a professional football player at my old job.  And the Jim Kelly tournament isn't a TEAM event.  It's a Jim Kelly event.  But he definitely invites former players to it all the time.  

It's just an observation is all.  A reliably, proven former veteran just seems like he fell off the face of the earth. 

 

Eric Wood does radio/TV.   Jim/Andre/Thurman are still around.  Freaking JP LOSMAN did John Murphy's radio show within the last 5 years.  Ryan Fitzpatrick, an ACTIVE NFL QB attended a Bills playoff game. 

 

Kevin Everett did a long form interview with the Athletic.  Torrell Troup did a long form interview with Tim Graham in the last 5 or so years. There's plenty of examples here.

 

There's no standard of alumni behavior or anything.  This thread is going pages deep.  Fans still respect/care about the guy.  Why isn't that reciprocated in some way?

 

As a child of the drought/Millennial Bills fan, Schobel was like the 1 really good player you could point to in the lean years. I'd be willing to bet some fans still show up to games in his (terrible looking) jersey.

 

And for a guy to be so good, and just completely erase that chapter of his life from the fanbase seems strange. That's really all I'm getting at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you're mistakenly believing that these players really give one ounce of a sh!t about the fans.  I don't think most do.  I do think they embrace the fanbase to an extent as active players.  But not after they're done.

 

I think Fitz is an exception.  Just my opinion.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

4 AFC Championships! 🤗 Even more AFCE Championships! 

Welp, even if you continue to move the bar, there are still players on the WoF that never won even a division title. Even the worst teams in history would have players deserving to be on their respective walls of fame. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

I’m so glad Schobel is held so highly on this board, he was bashed all the time on BBMB and his accomplishments were devalued. People used to say he got garbage time sacks, and that was proven to be untrue. 

 

He did some interview with the team for legends day a few years ago, otherwise I think he’s living a quiet life. 

I remember a rumor he wanted to come out of retirement when the team signed Mario Williams, can you imagine that DL?

[Devilmann]

3 hours ago, DrW said:

His family appears to have a restaurant in the Houston area. This guy got cards signed by him in 2020.

 

http://lee.n8d.com/2021/schobel-aaron/

His family has a restaurant in Columbus Texas roughly 60 miles or so west of Houston. Ate there a long time ago when I was going to San Antonio. It was pretty good. 

[somnus00]

4 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

FFS, probably 30% of the readership here will now believe that verbatim. 🤨

Especially if you link the story to a Facebook post so people can do their "own research."

[HomeskillitMoorman]

3 hours ago, The Dean said:

 

 

 

And here I was going to guess Autoerotic Asphyxiation. 

I guess everyone’s tightening their belts in this economy