New England Patriots: Rob Ninkovich explains why he retired
By Nick Ziegler
Recently, Rob Ninkovich of the New England Patriots announced his retirement. In his press conference, he explained why he made the decision.
It didn’t come as too much of a surprise the other day when New England Patriots edge defender Rob Ninkovich announced his retirement from the NFL.
As an absent player to start camp, many were speculating that Ninkovich was considering hanging up the cleats. After a few days of training camp, that is exactly what Ninkovich decided to do.
Ninkovich had a very solid career for the Patriots, but it was clear that his time was coming to an end. Last season, Ninkovich was one of the worst ranked edge defenders in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. The 51.0 grade he received in 2017 ranked him 84th among edge defenders who qualified.
After a poor season and at 33-years-old, Ninkovich explained why he decided that it was time to hang up the cleats.
"“Usually there’s a progression of, OK, you’re working up toward the season, you get to the season, your body’s getting broken down,” Ninkovich said to Phily Perry of CSNNE.com. “Then after the season you try to heal a little bit and you try to build back up for another year. When you’re trying to build back up when you’re younger, I feel like you can build back up, and OK, you feel OK. And for me, I was trying to build back up, and I just felt I wasn’t where I needed to be to be what I am and what I feel like I should be for my teammates and fans and everyone who loves me as a football player.”"
For the Patriots, the loss of Ninkovich won’t hurt them too much on the field, but he was certainly a veteran leader of the defense. Last season, Ninkovich did total four sacks for the Patriots, but that is a number that can be replaced.
Despite Ninkovich having a poor season in 2016, he did have some great years in New England. In 2012 and 2013, Ninkovich was able to total nine sacks each season. Despite his career not starting off like he might have liked, Ninkovich worked hard in order to improve and become a very good pass-rusher for New England.
With Ninkovich gone, the Patriots might look to add another veteran edge defender in order to replace him. With some young edge defenders on the roster, adding a veteran would make a lot of sense for the Patriots.
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For Ninkovich, hopefully, he will enjoy his retirement. He was certainly a big part of the Patriots’ success the last decade, and will always be a fan-favorite.