On Monday morning the New England Patriots will lose the heart and soul of their team as LB Tedy Bruschi will announce his retirement according to Al Michaels of NBC Sports.
No other details are known at this time.
Bruschi was drafted by the Patriots back in the third round in the 1996 NFL Draft out of Arizona. He’s played in thirteen seasons with the Pats and has won three Super Bowls. He was the last remaining player from the Bill Parcells era.
He missed part of the 2005 season after suffering a stroke on February 16, 2005 just after he played in his only Pro Bowl. He did return that year on October 29th and finished up the season. He ended up being named the 2005 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, an award he shared with Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers.
He played in 189 career games, starting 139 of them. He made 735 career tackles, had 30.5 sacks and 12 interceptions. He returned four of them for touchdowns.
He was nicknamed “Little Bill” by his teammates as tribute for him being an extension of Bill Belichick on the field. His leadership will be sorely missed by his teammates and he will forever be loved by the fans.
UPDATE: Christopher Price of WEEI.com confirms that Bruschi will retire tomorrow. The Patriots have scheduled a 10:45 AM press conference for the announcement.
Editor’s note: Steve contributed information to this post
