Continuing with our series of the most significant retirements of 2016, here’s a quick look at two key players that decided to leave behind their careers in the National Football League:
NFL
Peyton Manning
On March 7, one month after winning the second Super Bowl of his NFL career, future Hall of famer Peyton Manning announced his retirement at a press conference in Denver.
After 18 seasons in the NFL, Manning finishes with four trips to the Super Bowl, 539 touchdown passes, 71,940 passing yards, 9,380 pass attempts and 6,125 pass completions for a career completion percentage of 65.3.
The New Orleans native played in 266 regular season games winning 186 of them, which tied him for the most ever with hall of famer and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
He also played in 27 playoff games and won 14 of them, for a total of 200 career victories, which were the most by any quarterback in the history of the National Football League the day he retired, but New England Patriots QB Tom Brady has since broken the record.
Manning is the only starting quarterback to win Super Bowls with two different franchises. The first one in 2007 when he led the Indianapolis Colts, the team that drafted him, to a 29-17 Super Bowl XLI win over the Chicago Bears. The second with the Denver Broncos, when he was part of a team that had one of the most dominant defenses of all time that defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.
Manning, was voted to the Pro Bowl 14 times, won five NFL MVP awards, was selected twice as the NFL Offensive Player of the Year (2004, 2013) and was chosen as the 2012 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Marshawn Lynch
The former Seattle Seahawks running back announced his retirement on February 7 on Twitter, during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 50 between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.
The 29-year-old played nine seasons in the NFL and won Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 with the Seattle Seahawks when they manhandled the Denver Broncos 43-8.
During his career, Lynch amassed 9,112 rushing yards, scored 83 total touchdowns (74 of those on the ground), averaged 4.2 yards per carry and caught 252 passes for 1,979 yards.
Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2007 he moved on to the Seahawks in 2010, where he had the best years of his career. The five-time pro bowler was the NFL’s rushing touchdowns leader in 2013 and 2014 and was selected to the NFL’s All-Pro first team in 2012.
