On Friday, NFL linebacker Tahir Whitehead announced his retirement from the NFL after a decade of playing and he returned to the Detroit Lions to do it.
Whitehead noted that his goal was to play his entire career with the Lions, which is why it was important for him to come back to Detroit to retire.
“I love it. From when I was here, and just seeing the energy watching ‘Hard Knocks’ and everything,” Whitehead said Friday afternoon from the team’s practice facility. “You can tell that the coaching staff, especially Dan, you know, they’re embracing that culture and actually didn’t realize it. But Dan spent some time here. And that makes sense why he feels so heartfelt about the community, the city and making sure that the organization turns that corner. Seeing the energy, I definitely think it’s trending in the right direction after what transpired prior.
“You can tell he’s a player’s coach. The guys want to play for him. It’s exciting to see. It reminds me of when I was here and the last four years we had the two playoff runs. It was a close-knit locker room, energy of the locker room was vibrant. The city was buzzing. Had everyone excited. We just didn’t have ‘Hard Knocks’ then.”
Tahir Whitehead rejoins Detroit Lions to announce retirement
Tahir Whitehead added that retiring as a Detroit Lion was the right thing to do and that he was grateful to the Ford Family for giving him an opportunity.
“I’m excited to be back. It was only right to finish the career the way you start it, retiring a Lion,” Whitehead said. “Ford Family, grateful to them, gave me the opportunity to come in here as a young guy in 2012 and start my career. The city of Detroit always was really my second home from Newark, New Jersey. Embraced the blue-collar mindset the way to kinda keep your head down, grind. Met a lot of great people here and that’s my family now.”
