Today Demarcus Ware, one of the greatest pass rushers that the National Football League (NFL) has ever seen, announced his retirement via his Twitter account after twelve seasons. Ware played his first nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, becoming the franchise's all-time leader in sacks. In 2014 he went to the Denver Broncos as part of a loaded free agency haul that also included Aqib Talib, Emmanuel Sanders, and T.J. Ward. The next season Ware would be part of the Broncos team that defeated the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50. Injuries started to slow down Ware the last two seasons, as he missed five games in 2015 due to his back and seven games last year due to a fractured forearm and ended the year on injured reserve because of his back.
He made one final visit before making his decision
According to ESPN reporter Field Yates, DeMarcus Ware made one last visit to Los Angeles over the weekend to meet with the Los Angeles Rams. This move is one that would make sense for Ware since the team had hired his defensive coordinator from the Denver Broncos, Wade Phillips. Ware and Phillips were together for six seasons, four with the Dallas Cowboys and two in Denver. In the end, though he decided to call it a career, rather than play for the Rams or anyone else in the NFL.
Ware's Hall of Fame case is easy to make
In twelve seasons playing in the NFL DeMarcus Ware racked up a total of 138.5 sacks, making him eighth all-time in NFL history for sacks.
All of the top ten sack-leaders are in the Hall of Fame, except Ware who just retired and Julius Peppers, who is returning for his 16th season. He is also a nine-time Pro Bowler, having made it seven times in Dallas and twice in Denver. He was also voted to the 1st team All-NFL team four times and the 2nd team All-NFL three times.
Ware was also named to the 2nd team for the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade team for the 2000s. Finally, Ware got that elusive Super Bowl ring in 2015 with Denver as the icing on the cake that is his football career.