{"id":770010,"date":"2026-07-18T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770010\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T09:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:45:16","slug":"buccaneers-super-bowl-champion-pat-oconnor-retires-at-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770010\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers Super Bowl champion Pat O&#8217;Connor retires at 32"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Another member of the Buccaneers\u2019 2021 Super Bowl squad is calling it quits.<\/p>\n<p>Defensive lineman Pat O\u2019Connor, who played the first six seasons of his nine-year NFL career with Tampa Bay, announced his retirement Thursday at the age of 32.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a ride it\u2019s been,\u201d O\u2019Connor wrote to the Buccaneers in a heartfelt Instagram post. \u201cAfter 9 incredible years, I think it\u2019s finally time to hang up the cleats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40014940\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pat-oconnor-retirement.jpg\" alt=\"Tampa Bay Buccaneers players celebrating their Super Bowl LV win.\" class=\"wp-image-40014940\"  \/>Patrick O\u2019Connor #79 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates after winning Super Bowl 55.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor was a late seventh-round draft pick by the Lions in 2017 out of Eastern Michigan before playing out his rookie season in Tampa Bay after being released by Detroit.<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago native was mostly a special teamer and also filled in on defense for the Buccaneers, having played 77 percent of special teams snaps for the Buccaneers during their 2021 Super Bowl run.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cglue guy\u201d special teamer covered kicks, punts, and blocked on return units for Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n<p>After he left the Buccaneers in 2023, he returned to the team that initially drafted him, playing in 20 of a possible 34 games for the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>He had one sack in 2024 and 28 total tackles in those two seasons for the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor posted the video of being drafted on television with the message as he reflected on his time in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you had told my younger self that I\u2019d play this long, spend my entire career with just two teams, get drafted, and win a Super Bowl, he would have called you crazy. But here we are,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n<p>He thanked his teammates, coaches and friends before turning his attention to life after football.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40014927\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pat-oconnor.jpg\" alt=\"A Kansas City Chiefs player kicks a field goal as the opposing team tries to block it.\" class=\"wp-image-40014927\"  \/>Pat O\u2019Connor pushes to attempt to block a punt during the 2021 Super Bowl.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs one chapter closes, another begins,\u201d he continued. \u201cNow it\u2019s time to enter the real world. I\u2019m beyond excited and ready for whatever comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another member of the Buccaneers\u2019 2021 Super Bowl squad is calling it quits. Defensive lineman Pat O\u2019Connor, who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1810,349,99,1824],"class_list":["post-770010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}