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One of the most decorated special teams players in NFL history is calling it a career.

Longtime New England Patriots special teamer Matthew Slater announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday after 16 seasons. 

In a lengthy statement shared by the team, Slater thanked Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft as he spent his entire 16-year career in New England. He also thanked his father, Jackie Slater, crediting the Pro Football Hall of Famer for inspiring him to play football. 

“For the last 25 years of my life, 16 of them as a New England Patriot, I have been incredibly blessed to be able to emulate the man I saw on those fields in Meridian, [Mississippi], by playing the game that I love so much,” Slater wrote of following his father’s footsteps. “I have given all that I possibly can to respect and honor the game. Though it is time for my relationship with the game to evolve, the love I have for it will last a lifetime.”

Slater joined the Patriots in 2008 when the team selected him in the fifth round of the draft. He played wide receiver at UCLA, but quickly got accustomed to being New England’s gunner and a core special teams player. He thrived in that role, earning 10 Pro Bowl nods, which is the most for a special teams player in NFL history. He also received eight All-Pro nods (five first-team) as he helped the Patriots win three Super Bowl titles.

Along the way, Slater earned high praise and respect from those in the league, including Belichick. The former Patriots coach has called Slater the best special teams player in NFL history, as he’s also pleaded for Slater to follow his father’s footsteps in the Hall of Fame. 

“I think Slater really is eventually going to be a Hall of Fame candidate,” Belichick told reporters in December. “As a coverage player, not as a specialist, right? I mean for what he is, and he’s not a returner. So he’s in a very unique category, one that I don’t think is represented in the Hall of Fame. But based on what he did during his career and the length of time he did it and at the level he’s done it at — I mean again, since there’s no criteria for the Hall of Fame, there’s no criteria. But I would say this guy’s been as productive as anybody has ever been at his position throughout his entire career, which is very lengthy.”

Slater reciprocated the love for Belichick in his statement on Tuesday.

“To Coach Belichick: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pursue my childhood dream,” Slater wrote. “Thank you for your belief in me. You took a chance on me and kept me around when many would not have. It is a great honor to know that I played for the best coach in the history of our league.”

Slater’s retirement explains an even further changing of the guard in Foxborough following the Patriots’ two-decade-long run of dominance, which included six Super Bowl titles. The Patriots and Belichick agreed to mutually part ways after 24 seasons in January, cutting ties following a 4-13 season in 2023. They named Jerod Mayo their next head coach a day later. 

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