Former Tom Brady teammate and Super Bowl winner announces NFL retirement at 32

Former defensive lineman Pat O’Connor has announced his retirement from football.

The 32-year-old took to Instagram on Thursday to share the news.

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O’Connor retires from football at the age of 32

“What a ride it’s been. After 9 incredible years, I think it’s finally time to hang up the cleats,” O’Connor wrote in his social media post.

“If you had told my younger self that I’d play this long, spend my entire career with just two teams, get drafted, and win a Super Bowl, he would have called you crazy. But here we are.

“I want to thank all of my teammates and friends I met along the way. There are far too many to name, so I won’t—but you know who you are. Thank you for the memories, the friendships, and everything in between.

“Thank you to all of the coaches who impacted my career and helped me become a better player and an even better person, both on and off the field.

“As one chapter closes, another begins. Now it’s time to enter the real world. I’m beyond excited and ready for whatever comes next.

“Thank you, football, for everything ”

Career struggled for full liftoff but did win a Super Bowl ring

O’Connor was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round with the 250th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

He was waived just three-and-a-half months after signing his four-year, $2.46 million contract before being picked up a month later by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joining their practice squad.

After a year of a seemingly endless cycle at the Bucs of being promoted to the active roster, waived, and re-signed to the practice squad, waived again, and re-signed again, he was promoted to the active roster once again on September 24, 2019.

There, he would become a mainstay in Tampa for the next five seasons, and was part of the squad that won a Super Bowl with all-time great quarterback Tom Brady at the helm in 2021.

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In 2024, after featuring in 68 games in which he had 24 combined tackles, five tackles for loss, five QB hits and one safety, he left the Bucs.

He also had two tackles in seven playoff appearances for the team.

O’Connor would later go on to join the Lions in a full-circle moment of his career, going back to where his career in the NFL started.

However, he would suffer the same cycle of having to be released and then re-signed to the practice squad, though eventually earning his way back to the active roster two months later.

There, the Eastern Michigan alum would play 20 games for Detroit in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, making all three of his career starts in 2025.

During that span, he recorded 28 combined tackles, 10 of which were solo tackles, along with two tackles for loss and a QB hit.

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