Josh McCown said in March that he would take some time to decide if he wanted to continue his NFL career during the 2019 season and he announced that decision on Monday.
McCown is retiring as a player after a career that saw him spend time with 10 NFL teams and the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League in a career that started as a Cardinals third-round pick in 2002. McCown started for some of those teams, served as a backup for others and failed to make the active roster of a couple, but he wrote in The Players Tribune that he wouldn’t have done things any differently.
“I guess it just goes to show that you don’t always get to choose your own path,” McCown wrote. “But looking back, I’m proud of how my career has gone. I don’t shy away from the journeyman label. I embrace it, full force. Because it’s been one heck of a journey.”
In that letter, McCown suggested that coaching and broadcasting were areas he’d pursue in the future. Former Browns coach Hue Jackson offered McCown a coaching job in Cleveland after the 2016 season, but he opted to continue his playing career.
McCown spent the last two seasons with the Jets and also had stints with the Browns, Buccaneers, Bears, 49ers, Panthers, Dolphins and Lions after leaving Arizona. He started 76 games over the course of his career, completed 60.2 percent of his passes and had a 98:82 touchdown-to-interception ratio.