Bills Guard Richie Incognito Announces Retirement On Twitter

Richie Incognito was a Pro Bowler each of the last three seasons with the Bills.

Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito announced he is retiring from the NFL on Twitter Tuesday morning.

Incognito has spent the last three years with the Bills and has earned three of his four career Pro Bowl bids during that time. Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reports that Incognito said he has health issues that are pushing him toward retirement.

"My liver and kidneys are shutting down," Incognito told Carucci. "The stress is killing me. It's just about doing what's right. I just want to be in the Hall of Fame."

Incognito recently restructured his contract with Buffalo, and then fired his agent on Twitter not long after that. When Sports Illustrated's Peter King first reported that Incognito was considering retirement, King added that Incognito said he would contemplate returning for the right price, and that he was talking with the Bills about his deal and had until Sunday to reconsider retiring.

However, when Carucci spoke with Incognito, the lineman said he was upset about his deal with Buffalo getting reworked, but his retirement "has nothing to do with that."

Bills running back LeSean McCoy, who came to Buffalo in 2015 like Incognito, posted on Instagram about how he did not want to lose the team's starting left guard after already losing last season's starting center Eric Wood to retirement. In his three years running behind Wood and Incognito, McCoy rushed for 3,300 yards and 22 touchdowns while averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

Incognito, 34, played 11 seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the Rams in the third round in 2005, and between 2005 and 2009, he spent the bulk of his time on their roster, but he had a brief stint in Buffalo during the 2009 season. He went on to spend four years with the Dolphins from there, and in 2012, he earned his first Pro Bowl invite.

In 2013, Incognito was suspended half the season in relation to a bullying incident involving then-teammate Jonathan Martin. He then sat out the entire 2014 season before coming back to the Bills in 2015.