Three-time Super Bowl Champion Dont’a Hightower announced his retirement from the NFL.
After spending nine years in the league, the 33-year-old Hightower made the announcement on Tuesday in an essay posted on The Players’ Tribune.
“I can’t think of a better story than the one I wrote in New England,” Hightower wrote. “A decade, three Super Bowls, two Pro Bowls, and the birth of my son — all playing for one franchise. How many guys have a story like that? So this is a happy day for me, and I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate you embracing a Southern kid from Lewisburg, Tennessee.
“Today, I’m totally at peace knowing that I gave this franchise every ounce of sweat I had left,” he added in his farewell message.
Hightower accomplished so much in his NFL career, the entirety of which he spent in New England. After a strong career at Alabama, in which he was an All-SEC First-Team selection in 2011, as well as a consensus All-American. The Patriots drafted Hightower in the first round (No. 25 overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. Hightower won three Super Bowls — XLIX, LI, LIII — and was selected to a Second Team All-Pro squad in 2016, in addition to being named a Pro Bowler in both ’16 and 2019.
After sitting out the 2022 season, Hightower has elected to call it a career. In nine seasons — he opted out of the 2020 NFL season due to COVID-19 — Hightower compiled 569 total tackles, 27 sacks, 18 passes defended, two forced fumbles, two touchdowns and an interception.
The Patriots considered him “A force, a leader and a champion” in a congratulatory post.
A force, a leader and a champion.
Thank you and congratulations on an incredible career, @zeus30hightower! pic.twitter.com/4wu6d3ljfB
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) March 21, 2023
The Patriots also thanked Hightower for helping create “championship memories.”
The stop, the strip, the sack.
Thank you for the championship memories, @zeus30hightower. pic.twitter.com/zudWQlnIbL
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) March 21, 2023
