Former Pro Bowl DE Michael Bennett Announces Retirement from NFL

Michael Bennett with Seahawks in 2017. Photo by Chris Szagola/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

Veteran defensive end Michael Bennett, a three-time Pro Bowl pick and the owner of a Super Bowl ring, has announced on Instagram that he will retire from football.

The eleven-year veteran, who was best known for being a critical part of the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” in the middle of the 2010s, will hang up the cleats after a career in which he tallied a total of 359 tackles and 69.5 sacks.

After joining the league with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M in 2009, Bennett quickly moved on to Tampa Bay, where he spent the majority of his first four years in the league.

He then returned to Seattle as a free agent in 2013 and quickly became one of the most feared end rushers in the NFL, making three Pro Bowls from 2015 to 2017 and playing a key part in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl XLVIII win over the Denver Broncos.

Bennett then spent his final two seasons bouncing around between the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, and Dallas Cowboys, in which he recorded a total of only 6.5 sacks in 31 games played.

At the age of 34, Bennett will now ride into retirement and leave behind the legacy as having been one of the best defensive ends of the 2010s.

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