After 13 seasons in the NFL, New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi has decided to hang ‘em up.
From ESPN.com:
“I’m 36 years old,” Bruschi said at a news conference. “Your body doesn’t heal as quickly.”
Bruschi’s performance declined last year and he was playing with the second unit on defense this summer. He missed much of training camp with an undisclosed injury but played in two of the team’s last three exhibition games.
Coach Bill Belichick, usually stoic, choked up as he discussed Bruschi.“How do I feel about Tedy Bruschi?” Belichick said. “He’s a perfect player.”
Bruschi’s reaction?
“That’s something you’ll never hear during your career,” he said as he and Belichick laughed. “To have him say that to me is probably the best compliment he could ever give me.”
Over his career, Bruschi compiled three Super Bowl rings, five 100-plus tackle seasons and was a Pro Bowler in 2004. He also won the 2005 Comeback Player of the Year Award after suffering a stroke in February of that year.
Leadership doesn’t show up on the stat sheet every Sunday, but Bruschi certainly led the team in that category almost every year he played in New England. He was the consummate pro and his success after in ’05 was inspirational considering he thought he was done playing after the stroke.
Comment fodder: Is Bruschi a Hall of Famer? I would say he probably comes up just short of that honor, but he’ll definitely go down as one of the better players in Patriots history.
