Former Detroit Lions starting cornerback announces retirement from NFL

Former Detroit Lions starting cornerback announces retirement from NFL originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

A former Detroit Lions cornerback is calling it a career.

Jerry Jacobs, who spent three seasons with the Lions from 2021-23, has announced he is retiring from the NFL.

Here's Jacobs' full retirement message, which appears on his Instagram page:

First off I want to Thank God because without him I wouldn’t be here I also wanna thank my mother for always been on my side through whatever and always pushing me to go harder to my sisters, thank you for putting me in a game of football I always knew it would take me far , Your support means the world to me. But over the past few months my head been everywhere not knowing if I wanna keep playing or what but I’m deciding to hang the cleats up and start a new journey I’ve been playing this games since I was 6 years old I always had love for it, Well I fought a good fight an finished my race after 22 years of playing the game to my coaches throughout my whole football career I want to thank each and everyone of you guys because you all played an impact on my life, this game taught me so much and I will always forever cherish what I got out of it I can finally feel complete about how my football story even went, Football taught me how to be a man on and off the field and to be a better person, To all my teammate throughout my career thank you for the brother hood and bond we built during the time you all allowed me to be apart of yall lives forever and I’ll forever appreciate that, We have memories and experiences that we will forever cherish . I always knew it would come to an end one day but never thought I’ll be making this post this soon but I know it’s time… Retirement is not the end of the road It is the beginning of the open highway

Lived it , Loved it
Farewell beautiful game

Jacobs played his college ball at Arkansas State and Arkansas. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Lions in 2021.

Jacobs started in a career-high 12 games for the Lions in 2023, but that ended up being his last season in the NFL.

The last time we saw Jacobs was after he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in July of 2024, but he was waived the following month due to injury.

As recently as last year, Jacobs dropped a few cryptic tweets that seemed to hint he might be getting back into the NFL, but that never came to fruition.

Jacobs finishes his career at the age of 28 and after compiling four interceptions, 23 passes defensed, 131 total tackles, nine tackles for loss and one sack.