Getty Jack Cichy (right) and Pat O'Connor celebrate the Buccaneers' Wild Card win in January 2021.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Jack Cichy called it a career on Tuesday, February 22, after a brief injury-riddled career, but he will go out a Super Bowl champion.
Cichy, 25, last played for the Bucs during the Super Bowl LV winning season in 2020 and missed the 2021 season as a free agent amid the multitude of injuries that ended his previous seasons. He tore his ACL in 2017 and 2018, injured his elbow in 2019, injured a hamstring in 2020, and he broke his arm early in 2021. He announced his retirement via Instagram.
“The injuries, surgeries and adversity I faced and conquered made he who I am today,” Cichy wrote. “Would not recommend five-consecutive season enders, however.”
Cichy, who joined the Bucs as a sixth-round draft pick in 2018, carried on a family football legacy to become the first to make an NFL squad and win a Super Bowl. His father, Steve, played at Notre Dame and the CFL. Jack Cichy’s uncle, Joe, made the College Football Hall of Fame after a stellar career at North Dakota State. Jack Cichy’s late grandfather, Sid, made the National High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame after a storied career of 226 wins and 16 state titles in 30 years at Shanley in Fargo, North Dakota.
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians appreciated Jack Cichy’s drive in his short career.
“How tough he is and how much the game means to him. He’s one of those guys — he never shuts up,” Arians said about Cichy in 2019 via Bucs Nation. “Even when he’s not [on the field], he’s hollering out there to somebody else, ‘Hey, do this,’ ‘Do that,’ ‘Great job.’ He’s turned into one of my favorites.”
Cichy’s Time in Tampa
Cichy appeared in 16 games for the Bucs from 2018 through 2020, and he tallied seven tackles. He last played in the 2021 Divisional Round win at New Orleans when he broke his arm. The Bucs put him on injured reserve, and he received a Super Bowl ring as a member of the team.
He nearly missed out on the Super Bowl run because the Bucs waived him in December 2020, and the New England Patriots picked him up. Since he failed a physical, the Patriots waived him, which led to his return to Tampa Bay via the practice squad.
Long before Tampa Bay, his toughness and drive caught the eye of former NFL quarterback Brooks Bollinger, Cichy’s high school coach. Cichy played from him at Hill-Murray in Maplewood, Minnesota.
“Total disregard for his body,” Bollinger told the Star Tribune in 2011. “The kid’s just a natural football player. I knew from the first time I saw him get in the linebacker stance and the way he approached everything this summer that he’s a heck of a player.”
As a walk-on at Wisconsin, his three-consecutive sacks for the Badgers in the 2015 Holiday Bowl garnered national attention among fans, Sports Illustrated’s Bruce Feldman wrote. He tallied 6.5 sacks and 121 tackles in three seasons as a walk-on recruit for the Badgers, and he entered the draft in 2018 despite tearing his ACL at the start of the 2017 season.
.@jackCICHY just announced his retirement.
Feels like a good time to relive one of the greatest three-play sequences ever. 🤯
While injuries kept him off the field consistently for the next four years, wrote that he made the most of his few moments on the field. He also thanked Arians and Bucs defensive assistants for his time in Tampa.
“I gave this game everything I had and I can walk away satisfied with that fact. There will always be what ifs but I wouldn’t change a thing,” Cichy wrote.
Bucs players such as linebacker Lavonte David, wide receiver Mike Evans, and safety Carlton Davis III honored Cichy in reaction to the announcement.
Cichy’s Rich Gridiron Roots
While Cichy called his father “my best coach of all” in his retirement post, Steve Cichy learned the game from a coaching legend in Sid Cichy. The late coach had 11 unbeaten seasons at Shanley, and won national high school coach of the year in 1975. He didn’t coach a myriad of future NFL players but notably had late MLB great Roger Maris as a high school player.
Steve Cichy played quarterback for his father’s final team before playing at Notre Dame as a defensive back.
“I’m sure he coached with the same passion in his 30th year as he did in his first year,” Steve Cichy told the Fargo Forum’s Jeff Kolpack at the time of Sid Cichy’s funeral in 2006.
At Notre Dame, Steve Cichy played on the same team as quarterback legend Joe Montana. Cichy notably returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the 1979 Cotton Bowl, which the Irish won 35-34 over Houston.
“I still get people e-mailing me to say they saw me on ESPN Classic,” Cichy told Kolpack.
Steve Cichy went on to play for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL. His brother, Joe, tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles but didn’t make the team. Jack Cichy’s uncles — Joe, Mike, and Nick — all played college football at North Dakota State.