Buccaneers Super Bowl champion makes right decision on retirement

Buccaneers linebacker Jack Cichy announces his retirement after a brutal string of injuries to start his career.

Retiring as a young player in the NFL has to be one of the hardest decisions out there. Always wondering what could come next has kept guys in the league far longer than they should be, but Jack Cichy of the Buccaneers knew when to hang the cleats up.

Everyone knows that the NFL is a brutal sport, but the fact that Cichy has suffered injuries in all five seasons of his career is astonishing.

As anyone who has struggled with injuries before can tell you, injuries only get worse once you deal with the big ones. Medicine may tell you that a knee looks “normal” after months of recovery and rehab after an ACL tear, but normal is almost impossible after that point.

Cichy likely saw the trend that wasn’t changing any time soon, looked at his Super Bowl ring, and realized that calling it quits was the best decision for his future health.

It was already unlikely that many teams would be interested in a constantly-injured guy like Cichy, and retiring while you’re ahead is the easiest way to leave the game on your own terms.

Learning when to call it quits is an extremely difficult life skill. Cichy could’ve told himself that this year would be different, but he fortunately chose to make the right decision and put himself first.

Cichy finishes his NFL career with seven total tackles for the Buccaneers over three seasons on the field.

More importantly, Jack Cichy retires as a Super Bowl champion. Sixth-round picks are already long shots in the league, and getting to make it through five years and play in a Super Bowl despite the injuries is extremely impressive.

NFL careers don’t last forever, but as Cichy can certainly tell you, Super Bowl rings do.

Want to write about the Buccaneers? Apply below!