Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
After only nine years in the league former Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants talent, Alec Ogletree called it a career on Wednesday.
It isn’t completely shocking that the player the then-St. Louis Rams took with the 30th overall selection in the 2013 NFL Draft decided to walk away from the NFL this week. He didn’t play in the league last season and it seemed like his days of making a major impact on the field were likely behind him. Nevertheless, the news is still a bit startling since he is only 31 years old and still had the ability to contribute to a team.
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Alec Ogletree announced his retirement today on his Instagram account and also thanked the league, his former teammates, and his wife as he brought an end to a very solid career at the highest level of football.
“And just like that it’s a wrap. Thank you @nfl @rams @nygiants @nyjets @chicagobears for allowing me to play 9 unforgettable years in the league!!! Thank you to all my teammates that I got a chance to play with and know over the years!! Thank you to my wife @alexogletree03.14 for being there to support, pick me up, help, and correct, whatever the case may be.”
Alec Ogletree
The standout from Georgia played five seasons with the St. Louis-Los Angeles Rams and was a key player for them on defense during that time. In three of those seasons, the linebacker tallied over 100 tackles and peaked at 136 in 2016.
He eventually moved on to play for the New York Giants and was one of their more notable free-agent additions in the spring of 2018. However, he was never able to recapture the level of play he had in Los Angeles.
Following his two-year stint with Big-Blue, he played a couple of games for the New York Jets in 2020, then was a starter for the Chicago Bears in 2021, which ended up being his final season in the league.
Considering how damaging playing in the NFL can be to the body and brain of its athletes, players retiring in their early 30s had become an all too common occurrence as veterans aim to have better post-NFL lives than many of their predecessors had.