Sunday brought a report that wide receiver Calvin Johnson will hang up his cleats and retire after nine years with the Lions, although there’s been no official word from Johnson about his intentions.
There was a confirmed retirement on Sunday as well. Charles Woodson announced near the end of the regular season that he would not return to the NFL for the 2016 season, which meant that the Pro Bowl in Honolulu would be his last time on the field as an active participant. Woodson threw a nod to his younger days by taking a snap on offense during the game and then tried to put a bow on his long career after it was over.
“It’s hard to sum it up into any words because this is what I’ve been doing all my life,” Woodson said after the game. “It’s still going to be a big part of me. I’ve been playing this game in the NFL 18 years. I’ve been playing altogether, who knows, 30 years? I’ve been playing since I was 7,8 years old. The game will never leave you, I’ll never leave the game. I can’t. I gave it too much, it gave me too much. I’d say it’s not truly the ending because it can’t be, but this was my last game.”
Woodson came into the league as a Heisman Trophy winner and collegiate national champion and goes out as a Pro Bowler with a Super Bowl ring and defensive player of the year award in between. The game will miss him and he should have a permanent place in Canton a few years from now as a reminder of all he did on the field.
