Patriots AFC Championship Game Hero Retires

Former New England Patriots running back and 2018 AFC Championship Game hero Rex Burkhead is retiring from the NFL.

The coach of the last New England Patriots team to win a Super Bowl is out of the NFL. So too, as of Monday afternoon, is the player that advanced them to that game.

Bill Belichick departed the Pats a month ago. And now Rex Burkhead has retired.

Burkhead, 33, posted his decision to call it quits on his social media after being out of football in 2023.

“I’ve been blessed to the be able to play the game of football for 26 years,” Burkhead wrote on his Instagram. Curiously, he did not specifically mention any NFL teams or teammates by name in his thank you letter.

It was Burkhead's 2-yard diving touchdown four years ago that beat the Chiefs in overtime in the AFC Championship Game. That victory set the stage for a win in Super Bowl LIII, the last of the Patriots' dynasty.

A sixth-round selection by the Bengals in 2013, Burkhead joined the Patriots in 2017. Over the next four seasons he was a vital part of the team’s rotation in the backfield as a receiver and a running back.

He appeared in 41 regular-season and six playoff games for the Patriots, amassing 390 total touches for 2,128 yards and 21 touchdowns.

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Burkhead left the Patriots in 2021 after having suffered a season-ending knee injury the previous November. He played his final two seasons with the Houston Texans.

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