Former Patriots Running Back Retires After 5-Year Hiatus

Getty Bill Belichick wanted to use Jeremy Hill as a power back in 2018 before a season-ending ACL tear.

Once a promising addition to the New England Patriots, former running back Jeremy Hill announced his retirement on Tuesday, May 23.

Hill played for the Patriots in the 2018 season after four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. The former LSU star and Bengals’ 2014 second-round pick made his announcement via Instagram amid his absence from the game since 2020.

“Unfortunately, due to the injuries I sustained September 9, 2018, I will no longer be pursuing my career in professional football, that’s right I’m retiring from the game that we all love so dearly,” Hill wrote.

“It’s been one [expletive] of a journey and I wouldn’t have been close to enjoying it without my family, specifically my Mother, my coaches and all the great teammates I was blessed to play with,” Hill continued. “Now the fun part of life starts for me but in the meantime I will be doing everything in my power to help the next generation in our game so we all can continue to enjoy our great sport for decades to come.”

Hill tore his ACL with a grade three tear in Week 1 of the 2018 season with the Patriots against the Houston Texans. He went on IR and had surgery in November 2018, but the Patriots didn’t re-sign him after the season.

He attempted a comeback in 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders, but the team cut him after just two days at training camp. It didn’t end his pro football aspirations entirely as he tried to play in the XFL this year, but it didn’t pan out for him.

Hill came into the NFL with a lot of promise out of LSU with 2,156 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns in 24 games. He co-lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2015 with 11, and he scored nine touchdowns in two other seasons with the Bengals.

Patriots Made Due Without Jeremy Hill in Super Bowl Season

New England signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal in 2018, and he “beat out Mike Gillislee for the power [back] role” according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. Hill won a Super Bowl ring with the team despite getting stuck in injured reserve for the season.

The Patriots made due without Hill in the backfield that season as Sony Michel, James White, Rex Burkhead stepped up. Michel led the Patriots in rushing with 931 yards and six touchdowns, White tallied 425 yards and five touchdowns, and Burkhead garnered 186 yards on 57 carries.

New England got creative with wide receivers Cordarrelle Patterson and Julian Edelman producing in the backfield, too. Edelman averaged 11.9 yards per carry on nine attempts, and Patterson tallied 228 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries.

Jeremy Hill Wanted to Put Career-Low Moment Behind Him

With Hill’s career cut short, he never got a shot to bounce back from the other low point of his career. His fumble in the fourth quarter of a 2016 playoff game cost the Bengals in a defeat against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“There is no running from it,” Hill said in 2016 via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I embrace it. I embrace the challenge. I embrace the doubters, the negative, all that stuff. It’s great. It’s part of football. The great competitors, the great athletes all embrace it. I see myself as no different. I’m going to continue to embrace it every day, face it every day and wait for my opportunity to overcome that.”