J.C. Tretter Announces Retirement

There’s more to this than just an injury.

Disappointment for those of you who thought the Vikings might pursue him, but the good news is, there was never a chance. According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, Tretter targeted the Vikings but there was no response from the Vikings organization. I wasn’t aware of this, but Tretter grew up rooting for the Vikings. Details are in the Tweets below and in this piece from ESPN.

Tretter started his career with the hated Packers, where he was oft injured, but has been rock solid for the Browns, only missing one game over the past five years, and that one game was missed due to him contracting Covid. The Browns moved on from the center after last year to clear over $8 million in cap space, and even though their new center was injured in the first preseason game, the Browns promoted from within instead of bringing Tretter back. No other teams have come calling, so Tretter has decided to hang up the cleats for good. Tretter has been the NFLPA President for the past couple years, and helped navigate the league through Covid and through the most recent CBA.

According to Tretter, he’s perfectly healthy now, and the knee that had been causing him discomfort over the past several years has been fully recovered. He believes that the NFL is sort of “blackballing” him from the league due to his position as NFLPA President and his advocating hard for players, according to this piece at SI.com. This makes sense, considering he’s still a top 10, or even top 5, center in the NFL, yet no teams have shown any interest in signing him, despite O-line being one of highest-priority position groups in the league. There’s sure a lot to think about here. If the NFL is pulling shenanigans, then this should be pursued and action should be taken against them. I’m not a huge fan of the NFL’s lack of oversight, I don’t like that they’re exempt from anti-trust laws, and I don’t like their lack of transparency.

All the best to Tretter in his retirement, and may he continue to fight the good fight and be a thorn in the side of NFL executives as he continues in his role as the NFLPA president. We here at Skoloholics will provide additional information as it comes in. SKOL!!!!!!!!