In the second big retirement of the day by an NFL player aged 30 or younger, NFL wide receiver Jeremy Maclin announced Sunday that he’s calling it quits. Maclin retired the same day as New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
According to a tweet by NFL network reporter Mike Garafolo, Maclin announced at his wife’s baby shower over the weekend that he’s done playing football.
After thanking those in attendance and telling them that football is the reason he’s met a lot of them, Maclin broke the news that he is retiring from the NFL.
“It’s so cool that I was able to do something that has helped me develop these relationships,” Maclin added.
The announcement came just two years after the Kansas City Chiefs released Maclin, only two weeks after Chiefs coach Andy Reid and several teammates attended the player’s wedding to Adia Kuzma, per the Kansas City Star .
Maclin, 30, was chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 19th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Missouri. He played eight seasons in the NFL with the Eagles, Chiefs, and Baltimore Ravens, though he did not play in 2018.
In his eight-year career, per Pro Football Reference , Maclin had 514 catches for 6,835 yards and 49 touchdowns. Maclin had a pair of 10-touchdown seasons, in 2010 and 2014, both for the Eagles. After missing the entire 2013 season with an injury, Maclin bounced back in 2014, and then signed with the Chiefs as a free agent before the 2015 season, reuniting him with his former Philadelphia coach Reid.
Veteran wideout Jeremy Maclin announces his retirement https://t.co/beUHlEtSk0
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 24, 2019
Following his release after two years with Kansas City, Maclin signed with the Ravens for the 2017 season but wasn’t retained after that season, which was considered disappointing. The player underwent knee surgery and announced last October that he would not play in 2018, although he was planning to attempt a comeback in 2019, per Pro Football Talk.
CONGRATS to my brother @jmac___19 On a spectacular Career, but also more importantly on becoming a dad very very soon and enjoying the rest of your life #RETIRED !!! pic.twitter.com/6pIFTxdfvm
— Big Nick (@BigNickShow) March 24, 2019
During training camp before the 2011 season, when he played for Philadelphia, Maclin was battling what was described as a “mystery illness.” Per Lehigh Valley Live at the time, the illness eventually cleared up, and Maclin returned to the team for the start of the season.
“I was tested for everything, and every single test came back negative,” Maclin said at the time.
“I don’t have mono, I don’t have AIDS, leukemia, all the things people were guessing on, there was nothing. I was being tested for lymphoma and thank God everything has come back negative.”