Panthers' Robbie Anderson Says Tweet About Retiring Was 'Nothing Too Serious'

Robbie Anderson tweeted over the weekend that he was contemplating retirement, saying in the since-deleted post: "Ain't gone lie. Thinking bout retiring."

He told reporters on Wednesday that the tweet wasn't serious, however:

Anderson also made it pretty clear with an Instagram comment that he wasn't interested in playing with Baker Mayfield, who has been rumored to the Panthers in a potential trade:

Anderson didn't exactly walk back those comments on Wednesday:

It wasn't all that long ago that Anderson wasn't rushing to the defense of Sam Darnold. He ripped into the quarterback during a November game this past season after Darnold threw his third interception.

Anderson and Darnold had trouble recreating the chemistry they once found on the Jets, as the veteran wideout caught just 53 passes for 519 yards and five touchdowns. It was Anderson's worst statistical season since his rookie year.

The Panthers didn't have much more success, starting 3-0 but promptly losing 12 of their next 14 games.

As for Anderson's retirement tweet, he was a participant in this week's minicamp, though he skipped May's voluntary organized team activities. After signing a two-year, $29.5 million extension before the 2021 season, Anderson would owe the team $19.4 million between bonus money, per Jonathan M. Alexander of the Charlotte Observer.

"At first, it was kind of a surprise, and I just took it in," Darnold told reporters regarding Anderson's since-deleted retirement tweet. "I was surprised at first and waited till mandatory minicamp and he was here. There’s a lot of ways to look at that."

One way, perhaps, is that Anderson really, truly doesn't want to play with Mayfield. Regardless, he's been a participant with the team this past week, and from a financial perspective, retirement would be an expensive choice for the 29-year-old.