Curtis Martin Officially Hangs It Up

While the end of his playing days have been long over, Curtis Martin only officially announced his retirement from the NFL today. Martin, the running back for the Jets for 8 seasons, retires from the NFL after 11 seasons as the fourth-leading rusher in league history with 14,101 yards. The future member of the Hall of Fame only trails Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders on that list. Martin, 34, joined the Jets in 1998 after three seasons with the New England Patriots.

Martin's career was abbreviated by injury in 2005 after tearing cartilage in his right knee in week 2 of the season. He continued to play, but the injury worsened as the season progressed, eventually becoming a bone-on-bone injury. After surgery in December, 2005, Martin never played another down. His last game in the NFL was on December 4, 2005 against the Patriots. The Jets placed him on the physically unable to perform list for 2006 because of his knee injury.

Martin is the all-time rush leader for the Jets with 10,302 yards and in 2004, when he led the league with 1,697 yards, Martin tied Sanders' record of 10 straight 1,000 yard seasons in each of their first 10 seasons. The Jets plan to honor Martin during a special ceremony during the pre-season. Len Berman will remember Martin as one of the good guys in sports and the NFL, which seems a bit short of good people recently. One thing that Martin is considering in his post-playing career is an ownership role in the NFL.

Photo of Curtis Martin during a press conference announcing his retirement by AP/Louis Lanzano

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By tien mao on July 26, 2007 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

the jets organization is so LAME! they'll have a ceremony during the pre-season? how about during a regular season game like he deserves!!

guest

It's not an issue of it being "Fitting" . This should have happened when he went in for the first surgeries on his arthritic knee's . It's just sad that he didn't listen the opinions of his peer's and tried to make his ill-advised comeback . Curtis Martin will always be one of the greatest Half-backs in the league . It's just sad that it had to end this way for him . I mean can you see the anguish in his eyes ? He really didn't want to say the words "RETIRE" ! I like the way Tiki did it, He rode the wave as long as he could all the while realizing that his body was beginning to betray him and decided enough was enough and retired before his body retired him !Posted by; "still Not Amused"

TKaisen

His knees retired like three years ago... so this is fitting.

Rocknrope

#2, ask your friend if Martin was holding his own junk so that it didn't fall in, or did he let it flop onto the side.

You know what NFL stand for...."Not For Long...."

JMH

Oops, what I should've said is, I don't know what to say about [2]'s story other than that it's fucking hilarious.

Peter

Photo of Curtis Martin during a press conference announcing his retirement

Curtis's bobblehead feels left out :(

JMH

I don't really know what to say about [2]'s story, but...

Even speaking as a Giants fan, I always thought Curtis seemed like a pretty classy guy. I don't remember him ever making stupid comments to the media, showboating on the field, showing up on the police blotter, what have you. Came to work, did his job, toughed it out through a host of injuries. I wish him well in his retirement.

Jen Chung

Curtis is 4 years older than me and retiring already! But then again, he's been playing since, what, college? High school too? Hmm.

tien

@ guest #3 - the life of an nfl running back is (no matter how good) is pretty short, given the amount of abuse they take while playing. it's pretty crazy to think that there are players like martin and barber who were both successful retired at relatively young ages (in comparison to the "real" world), though for different reasons.

guest

he looks so young, like tiki barber.

tien

i want to share a story that i didn't think was appropriate for the post, but i thought it was funny.

my friend went to the same high school as curtis martin (alderdice high school in pgh). as martin went to pitt for college, he would sometimes go back to the high school to visit. one day, my friend's friend walked into the boy's bathroom and saw martin taking a dump in one of the urinals. apparently the toilets were working too.

i'm not sure if it's true or not, but it's just a crazy story i wanted to share.