{"id":16423,"date":"2025-03-06T02:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16423"},"modified":"2025-03-06T02:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:32:08","slug":"breaking-former-bengals-playoff-hero-announces-his-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16423","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Former Bengals playoff hero announces his retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just over three years after appearing in the Super Bowl for the Cincinnati Bengals, one NFL defender has decided to hang up his cleats.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/statico.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/05125430\/sam-hubbard-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"Bengals' 29-Year-Old Hometown Hero Surprisingly Announces Retirement After  Just 7 NFL Seasons\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard announced in a post to Instagram on Wednesday that he is retiring from the NFL. Hubbard is calling it a career at just 29 years old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my heart, I know that I gave this game, this team, and this city everything that I had,\u201d Hubbard\u2019s statement read in part. \u201cThat is why today, with great pride, I am announcing that I am moving on from my playing career in the NFL and entering the next chapter of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-content-name=\"Post Featured Image\" data-track-content=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sam-hubbard.jpg 1600w\" alt=\"Former Bengals playoff hero announces his retirement\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption><em>Jan 15, 2022; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard (94) celebrates following the win in the AFC Wild Card playoff football game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hubbard also said in his statement that he was looking forward to exploring other business opportunities, continuing to do charity work (namely, with his Cincinnati-based charity The Sam Hubbard Foundation), and focusing on his health and family. You can see Hubbard\u2019s full post here.<\/p>\n<p>A third-round pick by the Bengals out of Ohio State in 2017 (No. 77 overall), Hubbard played his entire NFL career with Cincinnati. He recorded 38.5 total sacks (placing him eighth all-time in that category among Bengals players) and did his best work during the 2021 NFL season when Cincinnati made the Super Bowl. Hubbard\u2019s finest moment that year came with his clutch strip-sack of Kansas City Chiefs star QB Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game that helped the Bengals win in overtime. To date, Cincinnati is still the only AFC team to eliminate the Chiefs from the playoffs ever since 2018.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is one of my favorite Sam Hubbard plays.<\/p>\n<p>He&#39;s sitting back in coverage then just decides &quot;naw, f*ck this&quot; and hunts Mahomes down \ud83d\ude08  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bengals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Bengals<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H7ZKLM6zSB\">pic.twitter.com\/H7ZKLM6zSB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Faux Joey Brrr (@FauxJeaux) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FauxJeaux\/status\/1694003249568010335?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Hubbard, who also had another incredible playoff moment for the Bengals the very next season, saw his 2024 campaign end early due to a torn PCL. Amid rumors that the Bengals were potentially looking to part ways with him this offseason, the Cincinnati native Hubbard has decided to retire instead. The news also comes just a few days after another NFL defender announced his retirement at the age of 29 as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former playoff hero for the Cincinnati Bengals has officially announced his retirement from the NFL this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago-blackhawks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Former Bengals playoff hero announces his retirement - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16423\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Former Bengals playoff hero announces his retirement - 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