Longtime Giants guard Chris Snee announced his retirement today, saying that as he dealt with hip and elbow injuries at age 32, he realized he simply doesn’t have it in him anymore.
“I felt worse by continuing to work out,” Snee told Josina Anderson of ESPN. “I am nowhere near the level of strength that I usually have. That’s been my game for 10 years, being one of the strongest players out there and using that to my advantage. If I don’t have that, I wouldn’t be able to do my job the way I expect, but also with what they expect of me. That’s kind of what [Giants G.M. Jerry Reese] and I agreed upon in March when we decided to try this thing and see if I can come back. I told him that he had my word, that I would be honest with him, and I was. I’ve told him that my body has had enough. With the way last season ended that’s the last thing I wanted to experience again.”
Snee has spent his entire NFL career playing for his father-in-law, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. At the time the Giants drafted Snee there was some talk that it was a case of nepotism, but in reality Snee has turned out to be one of the Giants’ most consistent players over the last decade.
Now the Giants will have to make do without Snee, who will walk away rather than go through the grind of another NFL season.