Getty Center JC Tretter #73 of the Green Bay Packers on the sidelines during the NFL game against the New England Patriots at Lambeau Field on November 30, 2014 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Patriots 26-21.
Longtime NFL center and former Green Bay Packers draft pick JC Tretter is officially set to retire from the league after eight seasons.
Tretter — who played four seasons for the Packers between 2013 and 2016 — shared a heartfelt message to his Twitter account on August 25 in which he announced his career as an NFL center was over and that he would be moving “on to the next chapter” in life. He added that he will continue to serve as the NFL Players Association’s president.
On to the next chapter
“In May 2011, I wrote myself a letter,” Tretter wrote in his retirement announcement. “At the time, I was a 250-pound tight end rehabbing from meniscus surgery and deciding what to do with my life. The letter began: Today, May 7th, 2011, 2:35 a.m., you decided that you become a professional athlete. You will get drafted and you will play in the NFL until you want to stop.
“Today is August 25th, 2022, 8:30 a.m. and I have decided to fulfill the second part of my letter to stop playing when I wanted to — on my own terms. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished and how far I’ve come from that night when I made the pledge to myself. I feel like if my 31-year-old self could talk to my 20-year-old self, I could earnestly tell him that we did it. We did everything we said we’d do and more.”
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Tretter’s Window With Packers Closed Fast
The Packers selected Tretter in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL draft, 13 picks after taking future All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, in hopes that he could eventually develop into a starter for their offensive line. Instead, they got a talented player who missed at least eight games in three of his four seasons with their team.
Tretter found himself in a tough position early in his time with the Packers after he broke his ankle during 2013 training camp and ended up spending the majority of his rookie season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. While he returned to practice before the year was done, he didn’t play a single snap and left the Packers with more questions than answers heading into the 2014 offseason.
The Packers opted not to risk everything on Tretter’s health and went back into the draft pool in 2014, spending a fifth-round pick on future All-Pro Corey Linsley. The rookie Linsley didn’t waste much time laying claim to the Packers’ starting center job, and by the time the regular season was set to begin, Tretter was the odd man out of a strong starting O-line rotation that also included Bryan Bulaga, TJ Lang and Josh Sitton.
Tretter did eventually get his chance to start some games for the Packers. He started three games and seven games in 2015 and 2016, respectively, both times while Linsley was dealing with an injury. Unfortunately, it also became clear that he was a rotational piece, at best, in their eyes among their other personnel, and the Packers allowed him to walk in 2017 free agency after getting just 10 starts and 31 career games out of him.
The Packers didn’t exactly come to regret their decision, as Linsley was an excellent center for them prior to his departure in 2021 free agency, but a fresh start worked wonders for Tretter. He signed a three-year, $16.5 million deal with the Cleveland Browns in 2017 and spent the next five years as their starting center, missing just one game over that span and playing near a Pro Bowl level for them.