London-born defensive end Jack Crawford has announced his retirement after a 10-year career in the NFL.
One of the best British imports in the league, Crawford moved to the United States to play basketball aged 16 but then took up American football.
Drafted by the Raiders in 2012, the 33-year-old moved on to the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans, playing in 109 NFL games.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, an unbelievable journey,” said Crawford.
“As a player, I think you truly don’t appreciate it till you’re in this position and realise that this is it.”
Crawford signed for the Arizona Cardinals last year but suffered a shoulder injury in pre-season, which prevented him from playing during the 2021 campaign.
“Ending my career after a year of injury was especially hard but there’s no easy way to call it a day,” added Crawford, who was part of BBC Radio 5 Live’s commentary team for Super Bowl 56.
“If you look at Tom Brady, after 20 years and another Super Bowl win [with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers], he still can’t call it a day.
“I’ve been on a strict schedule for 14 years, if you count college, so now I’m closing that chapter. It’s been tough but sometimes you have to let those things go and look forward to the future.
“I think it’s important that I retire on my own terms and I retire from the game before the game retires me.”
Crawford’s unlikely journey from London to the NFL
Crawford left London in 2005 to take up a basketball scholarship in New Jersey but, despite having no experience in the sport, he switched to American football.
He then accepted a football scholarship from Pennsylvania State University and entered the 2012 draft, being selected in the fifth round (158th overall) by the Oakland Raiders, as they were then.
Crawford joined the Cowboys in 2014 and says that, for his career highlight, claiming a sack and a forced fumble against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley that November edges sacking legendary quarterback Brady in a home game for the Cowboys in 2015.
“It was in front of my family, back here in London,” he said.
“A lot of my friends came out to support so it was almost destiny. It was my first game playing back in my hometown. You can’t get better than that.”
Over 109 games, Crawford made 148 tackles and 18 sacks, with a season-best of six sacks in 2018 during his three-year stint with the Falcons.
“From the moment I left London, I felt that returning here without anything to show for it, I’d feel like a failure because I hadn’t achieved the dream,” he added.
“There was an added sense of pressure, coming from a different country to the US, so I look back with a sense of pride that I represented my country and my family at such a high level.
“I still want to be a voice as far as representing the UK in this game, to help the next generation come up and be a resource for players in the league now to reach out to, like Efe Obada, because there’s something about the experience which is hard to put into words.”
