ClutchPoints
Ten-year NFL veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks is calling it a career. Hicks ended his career with the Cleveland Browns, but is best known for his four-year run with the Philadelphia Eagles, during which he won a ring at Super Bowl LII.
Hicks, 33, hangs up his cleats despite still having one year left on the $8 million contract he signed with the Browns in the 2024 offseason. The former third-round draft pick announced his retirement on Instagram, where he penned a heartfelt goodbye message to his athletic career.
“After 23 years of playing football, I’m officially retiring from the NFL,” Hicks wrote. “Football has given me more than I could have ever imagined. Purpose, discipline, brotherhood and a platform to impact others. But most importantly, it showed me who I am outside the game. I leave this chapter with deep gratitude for every lesson, challenge and victory. I’m proud of what I accomplished on the field, but even more proud of the man I’ve become because of it.”
Browns LB Jordan Hicks has decided to retire. pic.twitter.com/pbJ10EfB97
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) July 25, 2025
While Hicks’ four-year run with the Eagles was the longest stint with a single team, it was also the lowest point in his career. After posting a then-career-high 91 tackles in his final year in Philadelphia, Hicks broke through the following year in 2019 with 149 stops. He remained one of the NFL’s elite tacklers over the next five seasons.
Hicks did not hint at his potential next career, but said he still feels the “best is yet to come.” The now-retired linebacker has three kids with his wife, Ivana Hicks.
Hicks’ retirement decision comes after notching 78 tackles and two sacks in 12 games with the Browns in 2024. While still clearly possessing the talent of a 17-game starter, the tackle count was his lowest since the 2017 season and ended a five-year run with over 100 tackles.
With his retirement, the Browns’ already-thin linebacker corps got even worse. Cleveland will already be without leading tackler Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah for the entire 2025 season due to the neck injury that ended his 2024 campaign. Returning starter Devin Bush’s status is also in jeopardy after he was arrested for assault in May. Without Hicks, they are down to just seven linebackers on their offseason roster, including Bush.
The Browns, fortunately, spent a second-round pick on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who will likely take Hicks’ place in the starting lineup. Veterans Jerome Baker and Mohamoud Diabate join Schwesinger as favorites to begin the year as starters, with undrafted rookie Easton Mascarenas-Arnold potentially factoring in off the bench, depending on how he performs in the preseason.
The post Former Super Bowl champion LB announces NFL retirement appeared first on ClutchPoints.
