NFL Rumors: D'Brickashaw Ferguson Airs Retirement Plans At 32
At age 32, New York Jets left tackle and three-time Pro Bowl player D'Brickashaw Ferguson has just announced his official retirement from his team for which he served for a decade. His retirement note was posted on the franchise's website as well as on his Twitter account.
"As I considered the words I would say to you, I recognize a simple truth: It just isn't easy saying goodbye," Ferguson wrote as quoted by ESPN.
He continued saying, "... Today we celebrate a different type of moment, one that marks the completion of a journey versus the start of one. Today marks my retirement from the NFL as a professional football player."
His announcement of an early retirement rather came as a big surprise. The no.4 overall pick in 2006 is not linked to any serious injury-related concerns. His attendance on the field was also laudable. He never missed a single game in the 10 seasons he played (including 167 consecutive starts) and was reportedly present in all of the team's practice sessions.
But as he noted, the player is starting to feel the difficulty of playing the game up to the usual standard of excellent he put upon himself partly fueled by his declining performance in the last season which could endanger his future career with the Jets.
"Well, my goal coming into this league was to become the best player I could be. I never wanted to define myself by the size of a potential contract, but rather by my ability to compete with the best that the game could offer. Though I was successful accomplishing that feat largely throughout my career, the difficulty in playing at such a high level began to increase," the player stated as quoted on NFL's official news website.
Recently, Ferguson was asked by Jets GM Mike Maccagnan for pay cut in order to free up more cap space to get Ryan Fitzpatrick back to the fold before the regular season starts. He was reportedly due to receive the remaining $14.1 million in his $73.6 million contract with the team as reported by Sports Illustrated.
