Jun 9, 2008 - 4:21 PM
0 shoutsEAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- With a Super Bowl ring on his finger and a place in the Hall of Fame all but secured, Michael Strahan is set to call it quits following a record-setting career with the New York Giants.
Strahan informed team officials Monday that he will retire, ending a 15-year career spent exclusively with the Giants.
Strahan's retirement, initially reported by FOXSports.com, was confirmed by Giants president John Mara and head coach Tom Coughlin.
"Michael called me earlier this morning to tell me he had decided to retire," Mara said. "I told him I was disappointed and that I knew he could still play at a very high level and we were hoping to have him back.
"But I certainly understand his decision. I told him he's been a great Giant. He thanked me for everything the organization has done for him. I said, 'I think you've done more for us than we can ever do for you.'"
The Giants have scheduled a news conference for Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m. EDT, when Strahan will discuss his decision.
"He is probably the best Giant ever, in my opinion," said defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who has viewed Strahan as a mentor throughout his career. "So I am happy for him, but I am sad for myself."
Strahan, 36, flirted with retirement last summer before returning to the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants. The defensive end told FOXSports.com that he wanted to decide on his future prior to the beginning of Giants' mini-camp, which begins Wednesday.
"It was important that my teammates knew which way I was going before they got on the field to start the work to defend our title," said Strahan, the Giants' all-time leader in sacks. "It's time. I'm done."
After spearheading a ferocious defense that helped upset the then-undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, Strahan did not indicate this past February if he would return for his 16th season with the Giants.
But just over four months later, Strahan has arrived at a final decision.
"It's a tough decision," he told FOXSports.com. "But I wanted to be fair to the Giants and fair to my teammates."
Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer, who has spent his entire 13-year career in New York, expressed some doubt regarding the news.
"You hear a lot of things in the papers and you know that it is not always true," said Toomer, who will become the longest-tenured member of the Giants. "But I don't know. This is a very personal decision, and whatever he does, I am going to be 100 percent behind him.
"He has had a great career and he really doesn't have much more to prove. But I always tell him, 'You have to defend (the Super Bowl title), you can't just go out on top. You can't be the guy who takes his ball and goes home when he is winning after a couple games of one-on-one in basketball.'"
A four-time All Pro, Strahan appeared in 216 career games - all with the Giants. The future Hall of Famer ranks fifth all-time with 141 1/2 career sacks.
"He will always be associated with the New York Giants," said quarterback Eli Manning, the reigning Super Bowl MVP. "He has been a great leader, a great player, a role model for all the guys in learning how to play the game."
Strahan admitted last summer that he was mulling retirement and missed nearly all of training camp before deciding to play. The seven-time Pro Bowler got off to a slow start before ultimately enjoying a successful regular season, recording nine sacks in 16 games.
The ensuing postseason proved vindicating for the verbose Strahan, who came up short in his bid for a Super Bowl ring in his six previous playoff appearances.
Strahan collected 22 tackles and two sacks - including one in the Super Bowl - during New York's improbable title run, silencing his numerous critics by capping his successful career with a long-awaited championship.
A second-round draft selection in 1993, Strahan led the NFL in sacks twice (2001, 2003) and recorded double-digit sacks in six different seasons. He rewrote the NFL record book in 2001, when he collected a single-season record 22 1/2 sacks.
Following a stellar 2003 campaign in which he led the league with 18 1/2 sacks, Strahan's career took a sour turn in 2004 - when he missed the final eight games with a torn pectoral muscle.
After playing the entire 2005 season and finishing with 11 1/2 sacks, Strahan missed seven games in 2006 due to a foot injury. The Houston native also clashed with teammate Plaxico Burress and the New York media at one point during the 2006 campaign, leading to speculation that his days with the Giants could be numbered.
But despite his prolonged holdout last summer, Strahan was voted as a team co-captain by the Giants prior to last season, a vote of confidence that seemed to spur him toward another solid season.
Led by Strahan, New York's defense paced the NFL with 53 sacks this past season. The Giants also recorded eight sacks during the postseason, including five against Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.
"(Strahan) is a tremendous leader of this team," Manning said. "He has a great attitude, great work ethic, has taught a lot of young players coming in how you are supposed to act as a football player, how you are supposed to prepare and play the game, and he has been a great role model for a lot of players on this team."
"It is a sad day, a very sad day for me personally, because I love that guy," Umenyiora added. "He is like a brother to me. He has put in 15 strong years in the NFL, and that is something that in this day and age is near impossible to do."
