Longtime NFL defensive tackle Malik Jackson is hanging up his spikes. Jackson, who played 10 seasons in the league with the Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns, announced on Friday morning that he is retiring from football.
"That was the goal. Ten to 12 years was my goal," Jackson said during an appearance on NFL Network. "I was able to get to a point where I was doing OK. I was doing pretty well for myself. I did enough. I have a daughter, and I need to go home and be with her and start living life."
A fifth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2012, Jackson blossomed into one of the league's best interior pass rushers and was an integral part of the defense that led the Broncos to a Super Bowl victory in 2015. Following the Super Bowl, Jackson signed a significant contract with the Jaguars, where he teamed with Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler to form one of the NFL's best defensive lines and eventually lead Jacksonville to an AFC title game appearance.
Jackson broke through as a Pro Bowler in in 2017 where he registered a career-high eight sacks, as well as 10 tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits. He was ultimately unable to recapture quite the same highs through the rest of his career, but remained an important rotational defensive lineman in Jacksonville, as well as Philadelphia in 2020 and Cleveland in 2021.
Jackson did not play during the 2022 NFL season and ultimately decided that spending a decade playing at a high level along the defensive line and raking in more than $72 million in salary throughout his career was enough, and it surely was for a former fifth-round pick who found a way to become one of the league's best players at his position for a few years during that span.
