Former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Malik Jackson has officially announced his retirement after a decade in the NFL.
After not playing in 2022, Jackson formally announced there would be no comeback bid Friday on NFL Network's Good Morning Football.
"That was the goal. 10 to 12 years was my goal," Jackson said. "I was able to get to a point where I was doing OK. I was doing pretty well for myself. I did enough. I have a daughter, and I need to go home and be with her and start living life."
A fifth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2012, Jackson spent four years with the Denver Broncos, helping win Super Bowl 50 for the Mile High club. Jackson then got a big payday from the Jaguars, signing a six-year, $85.5 million contract in Jacksonville, where he earned the lone Pro Bowl of his career in 2017 after generating a career-high eight sacks from his DT position.
After three seasons in Jacksonville, Jackson was released and landed in Philadelphia, where he missed most of the 2019 campaign due to a foot injury and earned 2.5 sacks in 2020. He started 16 games for the Cleveland Browns in 2021.
That's a pretty gosh darn good career for a fifth-round pick -- most of whom don't make it to Year 4, let alone Year 10.
A penetrator who made splash plays from the interior in his prime, Jackson ends his career with 35.5 sacks, 292 total tackles, 63 tackles for loss, 106 QB hits, 29 passes defensed and four fumble recoveries.
