JC Tretter Retires After Interest in Playing for Vikings, Other Teams Went Unreciprocated

One of the NFL's best centers of the last five seasons is calling it a career.

At first, JC Tretter didn't want to retire.

The former Browns center, one of the best, most durable players at his position over the past five seasons, had interest in playing football in 2022. After being released by Cleveland in the spring, Tretter and his representation looked around to see if they could find him a new team in free agency. He told Sports Illustrated's Alex Prewitt that his list of ideal destinations included the Panthers, Cowboys, and Vikings. Tretter cheered for the Vikings as a kid and felt that playing for them would "put a bow on (his) childhood."

Despite having a major need at center due to Garrett Bradbury's struggles, the Vikings apparently never returned his call. They declined to comment for the SI story. Minnesota wasn't the only one, though; per the story, "none of the seven teams that his camp contacted reciprocated his interest."

So Tretter, feeling at peace with his career, announced his retirement on Thursday.

On to the next chapter pic.twitter.com/gDGTlyhZr0

— JC Tretter (@JCTretter) August 25, 2022

Sitting down for breakfast at a Washington, D.C., hotel earlier this month, Tretter admits for a time feeling “somewhat vindictive” toward all the teams who passed on him. “There are teams right now that I would say are desperate for a center based off how camp’s going,” he says. "Still no calls.” But, he continues, his desire to return has faded. “I’ve gotten to the point where I’m going to retire,” he says. “I know what I’ve accomplished in my career and I’m at peace with that.” If some desperate team called tomorrow, he adds, he’d pass. 

The health of Tretter's knees was a big talking point while he remained unsigned over the summer. He was barely able to practice for the Browns over the last couple years and had to get fluid drained before the team's first seven games in 2021. Tretter had surgery to repair a torn meniscus a month before the 2020 season. Still, he never missed a game to injury during his five years in Cleveland, with his lone absence being caused by COVID-19.

Tretter doesn't believe his knees are what caused the lack of interest from teams this offseason. He thinks his role as the president of the NFL Player's Association is what did it.

In Tretter’s estimation, finding the reason for this radio silence isn’t difficult. He describes his salary requests as modest, “not at a vet minimum” but “well below the value I bring.” He says his right knee is “fully ready” for game action, having healed itself of the swelling issue by Week 8 last season and requiring no more draining for the rest of the season. Plus, Tretter adds, no club has so much as requested an MRI or a physical to inspect it. This despite Pro Football Focus ranking him as the league’s fifth-best center entering this season.

And then there is how Tretter’s agent explained the lack of movement: “I got a call in mid June,” Tretter says, “and it was like, ‘I didn’t realize how many people you pissed off.’”

Friends, family and fellow members of union leadership are “frustrated” and “bothered” at Tretter’s ongoing lack of a deal, he says. As his former Cleveland linemate Joel Bitonio recently told reporters at Browns training camp: “When you have a guy that’s top-five, top-10 at center in the league and he’s not on a roster, and he's the NFLPA president … it seems a little suspicious to me.”

Tretter is also content with retirement because it allows him to turn his focus fully towards his NFLPA job. He'll be the organization's president for another 18 months and hopes to bring players together to use their collective voice for change.

On the surface, based on Tretter's account of things, the Vikings' decision not to even consider bringing him in makes little sense. Bradbury has been one of the worst centers in the NFL over the past three seasons, even getting outright benched last year. Tretter has been one of the best, most consistently reliable centers in the league. If he's 80 percent healthy, he'd be a major upgrade.

But I'll also say this: it's telling that the Vikings were just one of seven teams who didn't reciprocate Tretter's interest. It's also worth noting that Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was with Tretter for the past two years in Cleveland, so he knows the situation with his knees better than most. I'm not sure it'll even happen, but I'd be very curious to hear Adofo-Mensah's unfiltered explanation of why the Vikings didn't sign Tretter. If the NFL is, as Tretter alleges, blackballing him because of his NFLPA role, that's an awful look, but all we've heard is his side of the story.

For now, the Vikings are content to enter another season with Bradbury as their starter.

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