Tennessee Titans: Former LB Derrick Morgan to retire from NFL

Former Tennessee Titans great Derrick Morgan is set to retire at the age of 30.

Derrick Morgan, a former Tennessee Titans linebacker and great, has decided to retire at the age of 30.

Morgan was drafted by the Titans in the first round (No. 16 overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft, and spent all nine of his seasons in the league in Tennessee, emerging as one of the better linebackers in all of football.

Morgan announced his retirement on Twitter this morning:

In 2018, Morgan played in 13 games while dealing with a few injuries over the course of the season. It was the final year of his four-year, $27 million deal.

Here’s what Morgan had to say about the decision to hang up his cleats, courtesy of Turron Davenport of ESPN:

“My purpose in life is bigger than the game,” Morgan told ESPN. “What football taught me was the power of influence. My goal is to create better and more meaningful opportunities for marginalized communities to break the cycles of generational poverty and build greater wealth and economic mobility. I feel a deep responsibility to leverage my platform for this.”

Morgan also told ESPN that he had a strong feeling his career was coming to an end during the 2018 season. He totaled just 0.5 sacks and 25 total tackles while slowed by injuries.

It’s great to see Morgan have such a strong passion to help people after his days on the field are over. We not only commend his efforts, but we wish him the best in all of his future endeavors. He apparently has a “large project” in the works in his hometown of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, per Davenport.

In 2015, Morgan’s future was unclear with Tennessee. The linebacker could have moved on after the team started to pursue Brian Orakpo, but he decided to stick it out with the Titans. Despite the situation not being the best fit for Morgan, he made it work, and both he and Orakpo became one of the most feared EDGE tandems in the NFL.

As far as Titans/Oilers history is concerned, Morgan ranks sixth all time in sacks with 44.5, and his single-season personal best came in 2016 when he notched nine sacks.