Despite some recent interest being shown by the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers and some other playoff teams, defensive tackle B.J. Raji will call it a career. Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports Raji is retiring from football after seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers, the only team he played for. Raji did not, however, rule out a possible return to the game in the future in his statement.
“I am taking a hiatus from the NFL and will not play during the 2016 NFL season,” Raji said in a statement. “This decision was made after hours of conversation with close family members and mentors and considerable self-introspection and is one in which I am absolutely certain. I cannot rule out a return to the NFL in the future, but I will definitely not be playing during the 2016 season.”
What would cause the defensive tackle to step away? It was not a concern for his own health, but the health of others close to him. Wood noted there are some medical concerns in his family with his mother and aunt.
“Coach [Vince] Lombardi once said that “unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him,” Raji said in his statement. “That total commitment was the foundation of my success at Boston College, helped me become a top ten pick in the NFL and helped me both make a Pro Bowl and win a Super Bowl. However, when my agents Brian Murphy and Camron Hahn informed me that they had a new deal with the Packers, I knew that I would not be able to live up to Coach Lombardi’s “total commitment” standard and made this decision out of respect to this great organization.”
Following an All-ACC career at Boston College, Raji was a first-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2009 NFL Draft. Picked ninth overall, Raji quickly became a fixture in Green Bay’s defensive line, earning Pro Bowl honors in 2011 and being named to the Pro Football Writers All-NFC team in 2010.
Over the course of his NFL career, Raji racked up 155 tackles and 11.0 sacks in the regular season, and 14 more tackles and one sack in 11 postseason games. He also scored a rushing touchdown for the Packers in a 2011 game against Tampa Bay. Of course, his most notable touchdown came earlier that calendar year in the NFC Championship Game against the Chicago Bears…
Raji signed a one-year deal to stay with the Packers last March, valued at $3.5 million, a year after spending the 2014 season on injured reserve after tearing his bicep in a preseason game. The Packers showed interest in bringing him back, but now Green Bay will have to look for a replacement to fill his rather large spot on the defensive line.