Wide receiver Anquan Boldin announced his retirement on Sunday in a statement saying that he feels “drawn to make the larger fight for human rights a priority” in his life.
Boldin delved deeper into the reasons for his decision during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio with Ross Tucker and Vic Carucci on Monday. Boldin said that the decision wasn’t influenced by anything that happened with the Bills over his two weeks with the team, including the trade of Sammy Watkins, and that it wasn’t easy to leave what he felt was an “obligation” to the team, but that the events in Charlottesville crystallized something that had been on his mind for a while.
“It wasn’t a decision that I made all of a sudden,” Boldin said. “It was something that I had been dealing with for a couple years. I always felt like football would be my passion, football would get me past a lot of things. When I stepped up to the podium, what I said was honestly true. But just seeing things that transpired over the last week or so, I mean, I think for me, there’s something bigger than football at this point. It’s kind of shocking for me to say that because football has been something that I’ve dedicated my life to. I can remember as a kid wanting to get to the NFL and wanting to be a professional football player. I dedicated my life to that and I never thought anything would take the place of that passion, but for me it has.”
Boldin said he knows these aren’t new issues and that he can’t solve the problems of the country by himself, but he feels “a duty to stand up and make my voice heard and be a voice for those that don’t have a voice.”
Boldin said he feels he can still play, but that he won’t reverse course and return to play because “my passion for the advocacy work that I do outweighs my passion for football.”