2020 Buccaneers Super Bowl Champion Announces Retirement After 9-Year Career

A former Buccaneers defensive lineman is calling it a career in Tampa.

Oct 13, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detailed view of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet against the New Orleans Saints during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

A former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle who won a Super Bowl with the team in 2020 is calling it a career.

DT Pat O'Connor, who played with the Buccaneers for seven seasons and won Super Bowl XV with the team, announced his retirement on Thursday after nine years of football. He was a seventh-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 2017.

O'Connor also played two years for the Lions over the last two seasons.

Pat O'Connor Retires

O'Connor served as the team's rotational defensive tackle during his time in Tampa Bay. He recorded his first NFL sack against quarterback Kirk Cousins when the team played the Minnesota Vikings in 2020, and he was also a core special teams contributor during his Bucs stint, recovering a blocked punt in Week 3 of that same season against the Denver Broncos.

O'Connor also played in all four playoff games that would lead Tampa Bay to its second Super Bowl championship in franchise history.

O'Connor gave his goodbye on Instagram, where he thanked his teammates and coaches and declare that another chapter in his life is beginning now that he is stepping away from football.

“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,” O'Connor wrote on Instagram.

Over the course of his NFL career, O'Connor amassed 54 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss across 95 career games (including playoffs).

Now that he's retired, O'Connor will have the opportunity to keep a close eye on his former teams in Detroit and Tampa Bay while off the field. The Bucs will start training camp on July 28 and the Lions will begin earlier on July 25.

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