Mike Iupati is hanging up his cleats. The longtime NFL offensive lineman is retiring from the game, he told Peter Harriman of the Spokesman-Review in Idaho.
“My body was telling me it was time to close the door,” Iupati said, echoing the sentiments of many a retired NFL player. “My goal was to hit ten years,” the Idaho product declared, and he ended up beating that by one season. The 17th overall pick of the 2010 draft by the 49ers, Iupati ended up playing his whole career in the NFC West. After his rookie deal expired he landed a big five-year, $40MM contract from the Cardinals, although the final season of that deal was later voided.
He signed with the Seahawks in 2019, and spent the past two seasons in Seattle. He started 15 games in 2019 but was limited by injuries to only 10 this past campaign. The retirement means more significant change is coming to the Seahawks’ shaky offensive line, an O-line that Russell Wilson is apparently already unhappy with.
He’ll wrap up his career having been a full-time starter at every stop, starting 139 games in total. It was a decorated one, as he made four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams in eleven seasons.
Lightly recruited out of high school with only a few college offers, he came a heck of a long way. All of us here at PFR wish Iupati the best in retirement!
Seahawks “shaky offensive line”? Weren’t they rated as a top-10 unit (or very close to it) by PFF this year? Perhaps the writer is just a mouthpiece for Russell Wilson and his whining??
At this point I don’t even trust PFF, To me its like one of the most inaccurate sources out there. You could view PFF differently but I hate it.
Butt-Fumbler –
I guess I do view it differently, since all of the major networks and websites, including this very one, use it as “the” source for rating players
Yes, I am aware it is used by many networks such at NFL Network, NBC, etc. But I feel like their ratings are just inaccurate, disrespected to underrated players, and flat out wrong. Like I said you could view it differently but this is just my opinion.
I just Butt-fumbled,
I rarely comment on forums like this; however, I had to for this. I agree with your opinion, but as you have seen today’s cancel culture views differing opinions as wrong. We all must be little sheep and follow our masters.
U clearly don’t watch football
Yes.
PFF puts an incredible amount of time analyzing tape and researching why things happen. They get paid to do this. For example, Mr. Unlimited was personally responsible for about a quarter of the sacks he took last year. His fault. Not the offensive line. So yes, I will continue to value their opinions, as the networks and websites most likely will, over the opinion of some random guy sitting behind the keyboard…but that’s just me. And yes, I’ve been watching football probably longer than you’ve been alive
If you compare PFF to all the sports it is probably the best one to grade players. Their grading is probably the easiest of them too. It is still subjective but you can never get past that. No matter how much info you place in a computer it is still placed by a human. Could an avg player at that position make a catch could he make a block. I don’t think it is worth arguing over but it does establish a base line.
Have to say not sorry to see him go. He was past his sell by date a few years ago. Was a good one for many years but got burnt too often them stood and watched Wilson run for his life. Rarely would he make a move after getting embarrassed on the LOS. Hated seeing him just stand and watch.
Getting yelled at on the internet because I have an opinion, sounds perfectly normal.
Ironic comment. You had an opinion. Others have differing opinion. Now you’re playing the victim. Poor guy.