Seven-year NFL veteran Sidney Rice announced his retirement today, marking the end of an injury-riddled career that including multiple concussions and an ACL tear that kept him out for the second half of the 2013 season. After a breakout season in 2009 with the Minnesota Vikings (1312 receiving yards), Rice was limited to just 15 games over the next two seasons, one with the Vikings and one with the Seattle Seahawks.
I can confirm the Pro Football Talk report that Sidney Rice is retiring due to concussion issues.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) July 23, 2014
He briefly returned to form in 2012, playing in all 16 games as the Seahawks made a run to the divisional round of the playoffs. Earlier that season, Rice was the recipient of a brutal head shot on a game-winning touchdown catch against the Chicago Bears, but didn’t miss any time. Injuries set in again in 2013, as a concussion and an ACL tear limited Rice to just eight games. Rice was on the sidelines for the entirety of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl run.
The Seahawks released the 27-year-old Rice, and then re-signed to a one-year deal. But an influx of new wide receiver talent, along with a healthy Percy Harvin, posed a real threat to his spot on the roster.
The good news is that Rice has been thinking about life after football for a long time, and according to Seahawks.com, he plans to stay in the Seattle area and open a chain of Wingstop franchises:
“I was just thinking about things I’ve been through in the last few years,” said Rice, a big-play wide receiver who signed with the Seahawks in 2011 after playing his first four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. “I’ve hit the ground a number of times. I have quite a few injuries. It’s something I’ve always battled through and came back from.
“But I just figure at this point I have the rest of my life ahead of me and I want to be able to function and do things later down the road.”
Because he spent the end of last season on injured reserve with a knee problem that required surgery, Rice had plenty of time to ponder what’s next. He opened one Wingstop restaurant in Tacoma three weeks ago and has plans to open four others – one at the Renton Landing in three weeks, with more to come in Kent, the Rainier Valley and a to-be-determined site.
[Seahawks]
