Ben Watson Shares Emotional Message To Patriots Fans Announcing Retirement

Ben Watson decided to put an end to his professional career. The tight end too to his social media to announce his decision. Watson finished his career with the New England Patriots. Although he couldn’t fill the void Rob Gronkowski left behind, Watson did a good job in 2019.

In his statement, Watson said he hadn’t achieved every goal he set for himself. However, he did accept every challenge on his way despite his injuries.

Ben Watson addresses his retirement

“As a football player, I did not achieve every goal I set for myself,” the veteran wrote. “I came up short more times than I would like to count. But I can say, in season and out of season, in wins and losses, after a ruptured Achilles, ruptured disc, torn ACL, concussions, cross country relocations and several other setbacks common to our sport I was never outworked and never backed down from each challenge. The prospect of what could be drove me to keep fighting time after time. Ironically, it was through these cycles of perseverance that God repeatedly showed up and worked in ways I would have never expected, imagined or even desired in my limited mind.”

The tight end played 16 seasons with the Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints. He was able to catch 547 career passes for 6,058 yards and 44 touchdowns. Watson initially retired last offseason. However, he decided to return for another final go-round. Watson played through a partially torn Achilles and appeared in 10 games in 2019.

The tight end was successful

Watson was the most productive tight end. He led an underperforming position group with 17 catches for 173 yards. The tight end joined his team in Week 7.

New England finished the season with a wild-card round loss to the Tennessee Titans. At that point, Watson said it was probably his final game.

“It’s difficult,” he said in his final postgame media scrum. “I love this game, but there is a time when you definitely have to move on. I definitely won’t be back here next year, probably, and I probably won’t be playing at all. (Retirement) is something that I’ve tried to do before, and it didn’t work, but there’s only so much your body can take and only so much you want to put your family through before you want to settle down and have some roots and figure out what the next chapter of your life is going to be. …But it’s been a great run, and it’s been really special to be back here, especially to have the opportunity to play.”