Former Eagles, Saints Safety Malcolm Jenkins Retiring After 13-Year NFL Career

New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins announced Wednesday he's decided to retire from the NFL after 13 seasons.

Jenkins made the announcement on The Pivot podcast despite having two seasons left on his four-year, $32 million contract with the Saints:

The 34-year-old Ohio State product was in his second stint with New Orleans, which selected him in the first round of the 2009 draft. He spent six years with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2014 through 2019 before returning to the Saints to finish his career.

Jenkins was one of the best safeties of his generation.

He was a standout defender for the Buckeyes, earning three straight first-team All-Big Ten selections to finish his college career, and then made a seamless transition to the NFL, helping the Saints win a Super Bowl title in his rookie season.

The New Jersey native finished his playing days with three Pro Bowl appearances, two All-Pro selections (first team in 2015 and second team in 2010) and a pair of championships, the second coming with the Eagles at the end of the 2017 campaign.

Jenkins was still playing at a high level in his final season. He recorded 79 total tackles, five passes defended, one interception, one sack and one forced fumble across 16 games in 2021.

The defensive back explained on The Pivot he'd accomplished everything he set out to do on the football field and wanted to move forward to new ventures.

"If I can [play football] at this level amongst the greatest in the world at what I'm doing, I'm excited to put that energy into something else," Jenkins said (around the 1:20 mark). "It's that time. I've been playing since I was seven years old."

He wraps up his career with 1,044 tackles, 110 passes defended, 21 interceptions, 20 forced fumbles, 13.5 sacks and seven touchdowns in 199 regular-season appearances.

Jenkins' departure leaves C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Maye, Daniel Sorensen and J.T. Gray to compete for the Saints' two starting safety spots to open the 2022 season.