Running back Clinton Portis is set to announce his retirement form the NFL on Thursday, marking the end of a ten year career that saw the back play for two different teams.
Portis finishes his career just 77 yards shy of the 10,000 yard mark, but his 9,923 yards is goo for 27th All-Time amongst rushers who have played the game. He came into the league in 2002 and went on to win the offensive Rookie of the Year award and was awarded two Pro Bowl trips in 2003 and again in 2008 meaning Portis went to the Pro Bowl representing two different conferences.
That’s because after a pair of 1,500 yard rushing season, Portis was shipped off to Washington in a headline trade that sent All-Pro Champ Bailey to Denver along with draft picks. With the Redskins, Portis struggled initially, adjusting poorly to the different run schemes in Washington. At the time of his trade, many writers wrote Portis off, claiming that his production was due to the Bronco’s offensive line.
This proved to be mildly true, as one of the reasons for Portis’ struggles during his time in Washington was poor offensive line play. The Redskins also ran the ball directly at the line rather than the swing run plays that Denver ran with Portis. The poor line play took a toll on the body of Portis who spend most of his second season with the Redskins injured. Portis would also suffer a concussion during the 2009 season — one that knocked him out cold for a few seconds on the field, and ended his season short.
The retirement of head coach Joe Gibbs also took a toll on Portis. He described his relationship with the coach as a “great relationship” but he failed to get to that level with new head coach Jim Zorn, who Portis went as far as to call out late in the Redskins 2008 season. This was the start of the end for Portis and his relationships with his head coaches. Zorn took playing time away from the back in 2007 and as a result, Portis fell short of what would have been his fourth 1,500 yard rushing season.
Gibbs’ retirement was something that Portis cited in 2011 as the reason he lost his passion for the game.
“I never seen nobody give up or with their head down with Coach Gibbs.” Portis said in February of 2011. “As many close games as we played…you can’t say one time that we gave up. There was a passion and toughness amongst everybody on that field to fight until time expired.”
Portis was suffering a career nose-dive at this point. After Zorn was fired in 2010, Portis’ former coach from Denver, Mike Shanahan, was brought in but the relationship was still strained from his trade almost a decade prior. The broken down body of the rusher didn’t help things either as Portis was a ghost for the Redskins, playing in just five gamest that season.
There were even rumors that Shanahan wanted to cut the back as far back as the coach getting hired in Washington, but he couldn’t due to the uncapped year, and Portis’ $6.4 million guaranteed salary. Following the disappointing 2010 season, Washington released Portis and he would go on to not play another down in the NFL.
His retirement ends a polarizing career. Many felt that as soon as he left Denver, he was damning his career — one that could have been on par with another Broncos great Terrell Davis. Others felt that given the conditions that Portis had to play under in Washington, he made the most of it and actually put together a solid career.
It won’t be one that puts him in the Hall of Fame — well not unless somehow the NFL runs out of players to put there — but it wasn’t a bad run for Portis. The man who once dressed up as a different character for each of his press conferences is now riding into the sunset and will announce as much on Thursday.
No word on whether or not one of Portis’ characters will make an appearance.