Glover Quin Announces NFL Retirement After 10-Year Career with Lions, Texans

Former Detroit Lions and Houston Texans safety Glover Quin is retiring at age 33 following a 10-year NFL career, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.

Quin issued a statement on the decision (via Rothstein):

"Playing professional sports was always a dream of mine. Football was the route I chose and God blessed me to be able to persevere through all the hardships and play 10 years in the NFL. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I had to play in the NFL with such great players and two great organizations.

"Football was never who I was as a person. It was always what I had done. I wanted to use football as a stepping stone into the rest of my life and not let football be my life. I always only wanted to play 10 years. Said if I was able to walk off the field after the last game in Year 10, it would be really hard for me to walk back on. I'm young, I'm healthy and I got a lot of life to live. So I'm walking away from the game of football."

Quin confirmed the decision in an Instagram post Tuesday:

"Thank you to the 2 great organizations I had the honor to play for! Thank you to my great coaches over the years! Thank you to my great teammates over the years!!!! Thank you to the fans!! It was a blast!! Thank you to everyone that supported me and didn’t support me over the years!, it is all love on this side!!"

A fourth-round pick in 2009, he spent the first four years of his career in Houston and then played six seasons in Detroit. 

Quin had a productive 2018, totaling 74 tackles, three pass breakups and one sack. Last season, however, marked the first time since 2011 that he failed to record at least one interception.

Detroit released Quin in February, which saved the club $6.25 million in salary-cap space. After the move, general manager Bob Quinn called the veteran defensive back a "true professional."

Quin walks away having piled up 740 tackles, 84 pass breakups, 24 interceptions, two touchdowns and four sacks. He was named second-team All-Pro and earned his only Pro Bowl nod in 2014 when he led the NFL with seven interceptions.

Most notably, Quin was the model of durability. He missed just one game in 10 years—and that came during his rookie season in 2009. He finished his career having made 148 consecutive regular-season starts, playing in six postseason contests as well.

Quin revealed on The Pride Podcast (h/t Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press) in February that he had attempted to get the Lions to release him before the 2018 season, noting that such a move was an inevitability.