Jason Hanson Retires After 21 Seasons With Detroit Lions
From the archive: published Apr 4, 2013, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Jason Hanson has retired after 21 seasons with the Detroit Lions. Since making his debut in 1992, the 42-year-old has established himself as one of the greatest placekickers in NFL history, and most certainly a Lions icon.
Hanson suffered a heel injury last season that continued to plague him through the offseason, and this was a prime factor in his decision to retire. He told the Lions website:
“It was time to make a decision. It was the right time to step away. Ultimately, it’s my heel – the problem I developed last year. Now that we’re starting a new year, it’s still an issue. I have the desire. I have the determination, as I said earlier, to come back.
“Each time I’d start to push it, I’d kind of short-circuit. I realized that at this point of my career, I don’t want to perform in a compromised way. It’s not good for the team. I lost a little of my desire to play injured.”
Despite his injury, the veteran placekicker still made 32-of-36 field goal attempts last season. He finishes his career having featured in 327 games with the Lions, the most by any player with one team.
Originally a second-round pick in 1992, Hanson is the NFL record-holder with 52 field goals of 50-plus yards. He’s also the third all-time kicker with 2,150 points and 495 field goals. Only Morten Andersen and Gary Anderson can top those figures.
Sadly, the Lions and Hanson were unable to thrash out a contract for the 2013 season. Hanson told the team’s site:
“I would have worked out a contract with the Detroit Lions. There was talk, and at the start, with their initial offer, it gave me some time to evaluate – ‘OK, am I going to do this?’ Ultimately, no. It would not have been an issue. There are no hard feelings. It never got to a point where there was serious back and forth with numbers. It didn’t matter.”