Buffalo Bills offensive guard Richie Incognito says that he is retiring from football after 12 seasons in the NFL due to medical concerns. On Tuesday, the NFL Players Association announced on Twitter that Incognito had approached the union to inform about his retirement decision.
The announcement by the Association came after Incognito had revealed his intention to retire via tweet posts and comments he made in several publications throughout the morning. Incognito told the Buffalo News, “I’m done, I’m done, and that’s it. It’s been a long career. My liver and kidneys are shutting down. Nothing I can’t restore with some balance, but the stress is killing me.”
He said that he went to a doctor’s appointment the other day where they said, “Listen, the stress is killing you, what are you doing?” to which Incognito said, “Listen, I’m just doing what I love, and that’s playing football.’ So that’s why I’m done.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Incognito sent a tweet to the NFL PA’s Twitter handle and George Atallah, NFL’s executive director of external affairs saying he was “done.” Moreover, on Tuesday, Sports Illustrated had also reported that Incognito was strongly considering retiring but might return for a final season in the year 2018 “at the right price.”
To remain with the Bills for the final season of a three-year-long contract which Incognito signed in the year 2016, he took a $1.675 million pay cut in the previous month. Incognito, who will be turning 35 in July this year and has played 11 seasons in the NFL, will now earn $4.75 million in the year 2018. Apart from this, Incognito had posted a message on his Twitter handle in the previous week, indicating that he was terminating his relationship with Athletes First, the agency who represents him.
