After 12 years in the NFL, A.J. Green is considering hanging up his cleats. The Cardinals receiver admitted to Darren Urban of the team’s website that he’s considering retirement following the season.
[RELATED: J.J. Watt Addresses Retirement Decision]
“It’s a decision I have to make with my family, but whatever the decision is, I’m at peace with it,” Green said. “I feel I’ve been true to this game my whole career, I did everything the right way, so if it’s my time to walk away, I’ll be ready.”
As Urban notes, Green doesn’t have any interest in moving his sons to another school, with the family eventually planning to settle down in Georgia. That makes it sound like Green would only continue his career if he was going to stick around Arizona, but there’s no guarantee that the front office will look to retain the 34-year-old wideout.
Green’s numbers have dropped during his second season with the Cardinals. After finishing with 54 catches for 848 yards in 2021, the wideout has only hauled in 21 receptions for 145 yards this year. Green, of course, earned seven-straight Pro Bowl nods to start his career with the Bengals, with the receiver averaging more than 1,100 receiving yards and eight touchdowns per season during that stretch.
The Cardinals are facing a number of potential retirements this offseason. J.J. Watt, who was selected seven slots after Green during the 2011 draft, has already announced his plans to retire. Urban adds that offensive linemen Rodney Hudson and Justin Pugh considered calling it a career last offseason.
This dude actually retired about 5 years ago.
Had a great career. One of the best receivers when healthy. Just never seemed to recover after that ankle injury. Never seemed the same.
Made it to 10,000 yards. Had be been able to stay healthy he’s probably in discussion for HOF like Julio Jones.
Even if he was as good as Julio, he’d still have an uphill battle. The NFL is pretty selective. WRs like Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt, Andre Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, and Hines Ward are not in, and the latter three were not even Finalists in 2022 or 2023. Guys like Derrick Mason and Wes Welker were not even Semi-Finalists. Irving Fryar never made it. And so on.
Green was better at his peak than a lot of guys you named. It’s more a question of whether his counting stats are even remotely close to where the committee wants them to be. FWIW, I wouldn’t elect Green. I think maybe 3 of those listed deserve it.
My point is that even if he’d never been injured and managed a lengthy career, he’d still probably be out. All of those guys I mentioned have great resumes, and most have similar or better peaks to Green’s as well (maybe only Mason and Boldin’s peaks were not as good), and none of them are in, and a few haven’t been close. By All-Pros and all-time ranks:
Wayne – two 1st team, one 2nd; 10th in receptions and yards, 28th in receiving TD
Holt – one 1st team, one 2nd; 22nd in receptions, 19th in yards
Johnson – two 1st team, two 2nd; 11th in receptions and yards
Boldin – none; but 9th in receptions and 14th in yards
Smith – two 1sts, one 2nd; 12th in receptions, 8th in yards, 30th in TD
Ward – three 2nds, 14th in receptions, 17th in TD
Mason – one 1st, 19th in receptions
Welker – two 1st team, two 2nd team; 23rd in receptions
Fryar – two 2nds, was top 10 in receptions, yards, and TDs when he retired
It’s an uphill battle for anyone. NFL keeps it pretty tight in the HoF, perhaps moreso than baseball when you consider roster sizes.
Solid list. You forgot to add Sterling Sharpe. He was 1A next to Jerry Rice in the late 80’s, early 90’s. Should be in the HOF already.
Much respect to this guy.
Seemed like a class act, watching him from across the aisle as a steelers fan
Tale of 2 careers. Early he was a great teammate who loved the game, and it showed. Later it was all about his ego and his paycheck, and it showed. Anyone blaming injuries wasn’t paying very close attention. I don’t consider him a HoFer. Very good player in his heyday tho. He doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Julio Jones.
He’s washed up. He was great in his prime but a complete waste of money for the Cards! He never panned out but at least he got paid