Daunte Culpepper Retires

At the age of 31, Daunte Culpepper announced he is retiring from the NFL. He was formerly a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders. He was reportedly offered backup jobs from both the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not find interest in those offers.

"After taking a long look at my career and my personal convictions, I have decided to begin early retirement from the NFL effective immediately," Culpepper stated in an email.

Daunte Culpepper was drafted in 1999. He was the eleventh overall pick, being selected as the Minnesota Vikings first round selection. He played nine seasons before retiring.

His best seasons were noticeably in Minnesota. He quickly established himself as one of the top quarterbacks. In his career, Culpepper completed 1,867 of his 2,927 passes. He threw for 22,422 yards and completed 142 touchdowns. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times, and his quarterback rating for his career was 89.9.

Culpepper had his career year in 2004. In that year, he threw for 4,717 yards and 39 touchdowns. He completed nearly 70% of his passes and played in 16 games. The following year, he blew out his knee and could never return to his normal form.

The Miami Dolphins acquired Culpepper in 2006, trading him for a second round pick. Culpepper only played in four games before having persistent knee complications. He was sacked a total of 21 times in those four games. There were two notable images during his stint with Miami - one was Culpepper getting sacked seven times in his first game in Miami and the other was him walked off the field of a minicamp in 2007, due to the Dolphins refusing to let him practice.

He made five starts for the Raiders in 2007. He threw only five touchdown passes in those games.

Culpepper reported that he was excited to enter this year's free agency. He wanted to rebuild his career and looked forward to start over again. When there were no takers, he decided it was best to retire. "When free agency began this year, I had a new sense of excitement about continuing to rebuild my career in the same way that I had rebuilt my knee after my catastrophic injury in 2005. Unfortunately, what I found out was that the league did not share any of the optimism about me as an unrestricted free agent that I expected. In fact, there was an overwhelming sense that there was no room for me among this year's group of quarterbacks, whether in a starting, competing or a backup role. "