Katharine Lotze/Getty Images Linebacker Anthony Chickillo #56 and strong safety Terrell Edmunds #34 of the Pittsburgh Steelers react during a game against the Los Angeles Chargers on October 13, 2019.
On Sunday former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Anthony Chickillo announced his retirement from football via Instagram.
In the post, the 28-year-old thanked his family, friends and fans, as well as the Miami Hurricanes, the Steelers, the New Orleans Saints and the Denver Broncos, the three NFL teams that employed him over the past six years.
“My whole life my dream was to go to the University of Miami and play in the NFL. I am so grateful for the opportunity and thankful for every one of the teams that gave me a shot,” he wrote.
Anthony Chickillo’s NFL Journey
Chickillo retires having played in 76 career games (nine starts), with 65 of those appearances for the Steelers and 11 with the Broncos.
All in all, he recorded 108 career tackles (66 solo), with 8.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits. He also forced three fumbles and had three fumble recoveries.
Chickillo entered the NFL in 2015 as a sixth-round draft pick of the Steelers (No. 212 overall) and remained with the team through the end of the 2019 season, serving mostly as a backup outside linebacker and special teamer.
The Steelers released him in March of last year (with rookie third-round pick Alex Highsmith effectively taking his place on the roster). Two months later he inked a one-year deal with the Saints. After he failed to make the Saints’ 53-man roster he was signed to the New Orleans practice squad. Hit with a rash of injuries at linebacker, the Broncos soon plucked him off the Saints’ practice squad and he went on to appear in 11 games, during which he recorded 11 tackles (seven solo) and a sack.
Per overthecap.com, Chickillo earned a total of $7,521,490 in his six-year career. His earnings peaked in 2018, when the Steelers paid him a salary of $1,907,000.
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Chickillo Sued in ‘Shared Driveway Dispute’
Chickillo has attracted a modest amount of negative media attention in recent weeks, as he is being sued by his neighbor, accused of “repeatedly and intentionally” restricting access to a shared driveway, which is also utilized by the couple who live next-door.
The existence of the lawsuit was originally reported by Diti Kohli of the Tampa Bay Times. According to Kohli, the lawsuit also implicates Chickillo’s girlfriend, Cheyenne Autumn Snow, who allegedly was involved in a “violent interaction” with one of the plaintiffs, Charlotte Baker. Snow is said to have “repeatedly batter[ed] Mrs. Baker’s head and face with a no trespassing sign.” The lawsuit also claims that Snow “yelled at Baker ‘to get off my f—ing property’ and called her ‘a ‘b—ch.’”
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