"Farewell NFL"

"Farewell NFL," the only two words that needed to be said by Daunte Culpepper as he announced his retirement from the NFL at the age of 31 on Thursday. After a nine year NFL career that saw him on top of the world when teamed up with Randy Moss in Minnesota, but also saw him at the bottom with the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins, Culpepper will walk away from football.

Cullpepper tried to comeback this season but after being cut by the the Raiders during training camp and failing to sign with another team, he decided it best just to hang them up.

In an email statement Cullpepper had the follow to say regarding his retirement:

"When free agency began this year, I had a new sense of excitement about continuing to rebuild my career in the same way that I had rebuilt my knee after my catastrophic injury in 2005. Unfortunately, what I found out was that the league did not share any of the optimism about me as an unrestricted free agent that I expected. In fact, there was an overwhelming sense that there was no room for me among this year's group of quarterbacks. No matter what I did or said, there seemed to be a unified message from teams that I was not welcome to compete for one of the many jobs that were available at the quarterback position.
I want to thank my family and my fans for their unwavering belief in me as a person and a player. I embraced both the peaks and the valleys of the game and my career. I am a better person today as a direct result of the experience of playing in the NFL. I can now focus on the enjoyment of watching some of the greatest athletes in the world play the game I love without the distraction of waiting for those elusive return phone calls."

Unlike other quarterbacks who have attempted to retire this year, I think Cullpepper means it. Its sad to see a player who was among the elite at one point in his career fall off the map as he did following the major knee injury in 2005. You can't help but wonder what might have been had he stayed healthy and teamed up with Moss for the extent of his career.