Ty Warren took those "Never stop learning" commercials to heart

Yahoo! Sports

Tue Mar 16 10:21am EDT

Ty Warren took those "Never stop learning" commercials to heart

Ty Warren (notes), defensive lineman for the New England Patriots, will be skipping the first round of his team's voluntary offseason workouts. He's got a pretty good reason, though. He's going back to Texas A&M to finally get a degree in his pocket.

It becomes an even better reason when you listen to him explain why he's doing it, too. It's all about sending the right message to his three kids.

"I try to put the kids in the best educational system possible and I think there is something to be said for their father, who has been blessed to play in the NFL and do something he's loved to do, going back and finishing what he started. In the big picture, I think it's important for me to do what I'm doing. I can sacrifice that bonus for that."

Oh yeah, that bonus he's talking about? It's a quarter of a million dollars. He'll be giving that up, too, all in the name of sending the message to his kids that education is important.

ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss talked to Warren about his decision to make education his top offseason priority, and it's hard to read it and not come out thinking, "Ty Warren seems like a pretty good guy." And lest you think he's somehow shorting his team by not going to the offseason workouts, I wouldn't worry about that, either.

"Working out has never been a problem of mine, I do it regardless. I'm self-motivated," he said. "I've always been a working person. Ask anyone who knows me, I've been working and supporting my two siblings and now my own family since I was 13. No matter how much I have in the bank account, I'll always work."

I can't imagine the Patriots would have much of a problem with this, either. Warren's a veteran player, one of the anchors on the Patriots defense, and has never been known as someone to slack off.

If anything, this decision is just more evidence of that.