Longtime Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten has officially retired from the NFL today to become a lead analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcast. Witten, who will turn 36 on May 6, recently mentioned that he planned to play football until he was 40 years old but that won't be the case.
According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, Witten had a meeting scheduled with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones late last week to inform him of the decision. The 15-year NFL veteran, and future Hall of Famer, spent his entire career with the Dallas Cowboys after being selected in the third round out of Tennessee in the 2003 NFL Draft. According to the Star-Telegram, Witten played in 15 games during his rookie season and started all 16 games for every season after that.
Over the course of his career, Witten set Cowboys franchise records in receptions (1,152) and receiving yards (12,448), in addition to becoming one of the greatest players at his position in league history. Only Tony Gonzalez has more receptions and yards at the tight end position.
Witten will now become the third former Cowboys player to work as a lead network broadcast analyst, joining former QBS Troy Aikman (Fox) and Tony Romo (CBS).
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