Benjamin Watson retires following 16-yea

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has called it a career.On Monday, Watson, a 16-year veteran, Watson, with a lengthy post to his Twitter account. The tight end, who turned 39 in December, was slated to become a free agent when the new league year opened Corey Perry Jersey  on Wednesday."My parents tell me that as a young child I would declare that when I grew up I wanted to be 'a football player and a mi sionary,'" Watson wrote in his retirement Blake Comeau Kids Jersey  post. "For the past 16 seasons God has granted me the opportunity to do both. As I walk beyond the field my sincere hope is that I was a trusted brother and friend to the hundreds of teammates and families I was ble sed to share my football life with and that I earned their respect as a player and most importantly as a man."The 32nd overall pick in the 2004 draft, Watson won a during his rookie season with the . He would spend the next five seasons in New England, catching six touchdown pa ses during the team's undefeated regular season in 2007. After the 2009 season, Watson signed with the , spending three seasons in Cleveland before signing with the in 2013. In 2015, Watson set Anton Khudobin Men Jersey  career highs with 74 receptions for 825 yards and six touchdowns.After mi sing the entire 2016 season after tearing his Achilles during the preseason, Watson caught 61 pa ses for 522 and four touchdowns during his only active season with the . He returned to the Saints in 2018, catching 35 pa ses while helping New Orleans reach the NFC Championship Game. Watson briefly Dino Ciccarelli Jersey  retired before he re-signed with the Patriots last spring, catching 17 pa ses for 173 yards (his lowest outputs since his rookie season) in 10 regular season games. He caught three pa ses for 38 yards in his final game: New England's 21-13 lo s to Jason Spezza Jersey  the in the AFC wild card round.  Watson retires with 547 catches for 6,058 yards and 44 touchdowns in 205 regular season games. In 13 playoff games, Watson caught 25 pa ses for 272 yards and three touchdowns. He's 24th in Patriots' history in career receptions, 28th in receiving yards, and 18th in touchdown receptions.