Pats DE Rob Ninkovich Retires
By Tadi Abedje
New England Patriots defensive end Rob Ninkovich has announced that he will retire after playing 11 seasons in the NFL. He was pondering retirement for a while after missing the first couple of days of training camp.
“After many months of trying myself in getting ready to go for another season, I know the toll it takes on me and how hard I play. That’s the way I’ve been my whole life. I’ve just gone after it as hard as I possibly could. I didn’t know if I made it to 11 years after everything that I worked for through hard work, dedication, perseverance, overcoming adversity, going through injuries and believing in myself. It wasn’t an easy decision but after 11 seasons (19 years total playing football), it’s time for me to walk away. I forward to the next phase of my life,” says the ex-Patriot.
Team owner Robert Kraft said that he was the most consistent performer and had the greatest beard in franchise history.
In 2006, he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round out of Purdue University and played with them and the Miami Dolphins for three seasons until he signed with the Pats in 2009. He originally played on special teams but got an opportunity from Bill Belichick to start at outside linebacker in 2010 and then at defensive end in 2012.
Ninkovich was often compared to former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel because of his versatility to play all over the field and his contributions to the club. He was the one who set the edge to stop the opponent’s running attack. He ranks fifth in team history in sacks. In his career, he had 460 tackles, 46 sacks, five interceptions, 10 forced fumbles, 14 fumble recoveries and two touchdowns in 123 regular season games.
In his postseason career, he had 64 tackles, seven passes defended, six sacks and one interception in 16 playoff games. He played his best in the biggest stage of his career as he had six tackles and one sack in Super Bowl 49 and two assisted tackles in Super Bowl 51 as he won two titles.
2016 proved to be difficult for Nikovich as he was suspended for the first four games of the season as he violated the league’s drug policy after he tested positive for a banned substance. He played in 44.3 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in a rotation of defensive ends Trey Flowers, Jabaal Sheard, Chris Long, and Geneo Grissom and linebackers Don’t’a Hightower, Elandon Roberts, Kyle Van Noy, Shea McClellin and Barkevious Mingo.
According to NFL Research, he and former Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell were the only two players in the NFL to have at least 400 tackles and 40 sacks since 2010. Also, he was one of four players along with Jared Allen, Julius Peppers and Jason Taylor in the last 20 years to have 46-plus sacks, 14-plus fumble recoveries, 12-plus fumbles forced and five interceptions.