Mayo to Retire

Here is Patrick Higgins, discussing a surprising retirement announcement from the NFL this week. 

Article by Patrick Higgins

Hello everyone, some surprising news came out of the New England Patriots camp this week. Linebacker Jerod Mayo has decided to retire from football at twenty-nine years old. "After a lot of thought Chantel and I take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for what we consider a life changing event.....that of becoming a New England Patriot for the past 8 years," Mayo wrote on an Instagram post. "We are extremely grateful to 'Thundercat'. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Jonathan. the Kraft family, Coach Belichick, the Pats organization, and the most amazing fans in contributing to these pages of our lives.

The Patriots weren’t expected to retain Mayo for next season. Mayo would’ve had a 11.4-million-dollar cap number, the second highest on the team next to quarterback Tom Brady. Mayo finished each of the past three seasons on injured reserve, although he played in 16 games this past season before leaving the Patriots' divisional playoff win over the Kansas City Chiefs with a shoulder injury. He was limited to six games in 2013 because of a pectoral injury and six games in 2014 because of a knee injury. Mayo was the 10^th overall pick in the 2008 draft, and and was NFL's defensive rookie of the year and was selected for the Pro Bowl in 2010 and 2012. His teammates also selected him as a captain from 2009 to 2015.

In my opinion everyone, this is a hit for the New England Patriots. Mayo was a pro bowl type talent, and when you take that off of any defense, there are going to be growing pains at that position. He was also a leader for the locker room, and now the Patriots are going to have to find a new voice of leadership to replace him. Someone doesn’t need to have the most tackles or the most sacks to be effective for a team. Mayo was that person for the Patriots. We have also seen many players now retiring at a young age, because of all the injuries and after effects of playing professional football. Mayo will be missed by the team and Patriots nation.