Sidney Rice announced on Wednesday that he has decided to retire from professional football because of the toll injuries have taken on him over his 7-year NFL career. Rice, 27, returned from a torn ACL and also had several concussions during his career.
The Seahawks released a statement with these quotes from Rice:
“I was just thinking about things I’ve been through in the last few years,” said Rice. “I’ve hit the ground a number of times. I have quite a few injuries. It’s something I’ve always battled through and came back from.
“But I just figure at this point I have the rest of my life ahead of me and I want to be able to function and do things later down the road.”
Rice is already involved in several ventures outside of football. The most notable one is his ownership of a Wingstop restaurant. He opened one in Tacoma a few weeks ago and plans to open four others around the Washington area.
“I’m sort of a job creator right now,” Rice said via the Seahawks’ website. “What got me into the wings? It’s my favorite food. In Minnesota there was no Wingstop. So me and Adrian Peterson, every time we’d have an away game, we’d hop in the car and try to find a Wingstop. So we always talked about opening one.”
In addition to getting into the wing business, Rice is also getting into the tech world. He’s developing aps and has established Fresh Healthy Vending to provide nutritional alternates for vending machines in schools around his hometown of Gaffney, S.C.
Rice’s best season came in 2009 when he caught 82 passes for 1,312 yards and 8 touchdowns. He signed a big contract with the Seahawks after the 2010 season, but he missed 15 games over three seasons and never lived up to the expectations.
