Longtime New England Patriots center David Andrews could not hide his emotions Monday as he said goodbye to the game of football.
The Patriots cut Andrews in March after a full decade with the team. Instead of testing the waters as a free agent, the 32-year-old opted to announce his retirement in familiar territory at Gillette Stadium in Boston, Mass.
Dressed in a lavender button-down shirt, Andrews made his way onto the stage in front of friends, family, and reporters. Andrews did not even make it to the first sentence of his prepared statement before the tears started to flow.
“I wrote this down, so I’ll try to get through it,” Andrews said before burying his face in his right hand.
Andrews broke down again shortly after he started his speech.
Andrews spoke of the immense gratitude he had for being able to play the game at the highest level, a sport he started at six years old. He later shared that he could not bring himself to play for any other team aside from the Patriots.
“I didn’t want to go do it for another organization,” Andrews said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “That wasn’t what I had in mind to finish my career. I wanted to finish it here, and I did.”
Andrews played just four games in 2024 before missing the rest of the Patriots’ season with a shoulder injury. He was released in March after failing the team’s physical exam.
Andrews was a captain for eight of his 10 seasons in New England. The Georgia alum never earned a Pro Bowl nod but was the starting center for the Patriots’ Super Bowl runs in 2016 and 2018.
