Veteran nose tackle B.J. Raji will not play in the National Football League in 2016, but is leaving the door open for a return after this year.
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Raji has stated that a comeback is not impossible and he could return to the gridiron when his health returns, but he will absolutely miss the 2016 season.
Raji is walking away largely due to injury issues that have plagued him throughout his entire career including a groin injury that bothered him all throughout the 2015 National Football League regular season.
An ESPN report cited multiple unnamed Packers sources who said they believe Raji will take a one-year break rather than retiring.
However, there was no hint at the time that Raji was planning to start his post-football ventures immediately at age 29.
Raji was Green Bay’s ninth overall draft pick in 2009, and has been a mainstay of the defensive line since, playing in 91 of 96 possible games and starting 78. He returned to the Packers on one-year deals each of the last two seasons – in 2014 after a disappointing season and in 2015 after missing all of the previous year with a torn biceps tendon. He said this off-season was the first he could remember being “pulled in another direction, and I am excited to first be “all in” with my family back home, and then to explore new frontiers”. He also won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers.
“I am not exactly sure what the next phase of of life will entail, but I am confident that all of the lessons I learned during my National Football League journey will provide a solid foundation for success”, Raji said.
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“It doesn’t seem that long ago that Clay and I came to Green Bay together as first-round picks”, Raji said, “and I am really proud of what we were able to accomplish as a defence and a team, bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Green Bay”.
