Former Buckeyes Standout Linebacker Calls It a Career After a Eight Years in the NFL

Twice a first-team All-Big 10 selection, his pro career included stops with four different teams.

Nov 21, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Raekwon McMillan (5) lines up against the Michigan State Spartans at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After a professional career that spanned eight seasons with four different franchises after being selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft, one former Ohio State standout linebacker has decided to call it quits.

Officially.

Raekwon McMillan, a second-team All-American in 2015 and twice first-team All-Big 10 linebacker with the Buckeyes, has revealed he is retiring from the NFL on a social media post, after spending last season without a team.

“Always for the name on the back of my jersey! 8 years flew by, but this next chapter is going to be my best chapter. I hope I made y’all proud! #retirement.”

Even before McMillan stepped on campus in Columbus, expectations were high for the Liberty County (Hinesville, Georgia) linebacker, ranked as the No. 13 player on ESPN’s 300 in 2014.

As a true freshman, McMillan backed up starting middle linebacker Curtis Grant, but he saw the field often under then head coach Urban Meyer, collecting 54 combined tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, and one interception, with Ohio State conquering its eight National Championship by defeating Oregon 42-20 in the first ever College Football Playoff title game. 

By his sophomore year, he was the team’s starter in the middle, where he would rack over 220 combined tackles, 11 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks over the course of the next three years. 

Those performances earned him wide second round consideration for the 2015 NFL Draft, with NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks ranking him that year’s second-best middle linebacker available.

The Miami Dolphins selected him with the 54th overall pick, projecting him initially to start as a rookie at strongside linebacker before his career started going sideways.

Injuries shaped a big part of Raekwon McMillan’s NFL career

During the Dolphins very first preseason game that year, McMillan suffered an ACL injury that robbed him of the season. 

McMillan earned a role as the ‘Phins’ starting middle linebacker over the next two years, and starting 28 out of 29 games played for the franchise. But after ending the 2019 season on IR due to a hamstring injury, was traded to the Raiders before the 2020 campaign. In Las Vegas, he only started four out of the 16 games he played before moving on again. 

McMillan would go on to sign as a free agent with the Patriots, but the injury bug bit again, this time during offseason workouts when he suffered another ACL injury that cost him the entire 2021 season, this time on the other knee.

In 2022, McMillan was able to appear in 16 contests, including one start, but a torn Achilles’ tendon during OTA’s in 2023 would once again relegate him to surgery, rehab, and watching from the sidelines for a whole year. 

He played nine games for the Pats in 2024 after coming back once again, including four starts, but was waived before the year ended, catching on with the Titans for the final two matches of that season.

He didn't play in the league during 2025.

It’s always hard to summarize a player’s career when injuries play such a prominent role like in McMillan’s case, but even if he was unable to fulfill the high expectations that accompanied him when he left Ohio State, his resiliency is unmatched.

And that's enough to make anyone proud.