Ex-Lobo Quin calls it quits after 10 years
Garoppolo spending time with quarterback guru House
DETROIT — After 10 seasons in the NFL, the last six with the Detroit Lions, safety Glover Quin has decided to end his football-playing career.
Quin, a 33-year-old University of New Mexico alum, announced on Instagram that he is retiring instead of trying to pursue a new team to join.
“Thank you to the 2 great organizations I had the honor to play for,” Quin wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to my great coaches over the years! Thank you to my great teammates over the years !!!! Thank you to the fans!! It was a blast!! Thank you to everyone that supported me and didn’t support me over the years!, it is all love on this side!!”
The Lions released a statement, congratulating Quin on his retirement, and said: “Throughout his time in Detroit, Glover was the definition of a leader in everything he did. In addition to his consistent play on the field, his presence in the locker room for younger players and his natural ability to connect with our community defined his legacy as a Lion.”
Quin started all 96 games in his six seasons in Detroit, making the Pro Bowl in 2014. Last season, his first in a new defensive scheme with head coach Matt Patricia, was not as prolific. It was his first season since 2011 without an interception.
Quin served as the Lions’ players association representative for his first five years in Detroit and, after spending most of last spring at home with his family in Texas, took a mentoring role with Tracy Walker, his presumed replacement at starting safety, during the season.
A fourth-round draft pick, he played the first four seasons of his career with the Houston Texans. He retires with 24 career interceptions, two returned for touchdowns, and played all but one regular season game in his career, starting 156 out of 159.
49ERS: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is going to summer school before starting training camp.
Garoppolo is spending part of his down time between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp July 27 working in Southern California with quarterback guru Tom House.
House is a former major league pitcher and pitching coach perhaps most famous for catching Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th career homer in the Atlanta Braves bullpen in 1974. But in recent years, House has run a quarterback academy in Huntington Beach called 3DQB where he helps passers refine their throwing mechanics.
House has worked with several star quarterbacks over the years, including Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Carson Palmer.
“We’re trying to implement drills as close to game-like situations as you could get to,” Garoppolo said in a phone interview last week.
COMBINE: The NFL International Combine is headed to Germany for the first time.
The showcase is similar to the annual NFL Combine that takes place in Indianapolis after the Super Bowl, with the goal of trying to discover and evaluate potential NFL talent internationally.
Up to 50 athletes will be selected to go through a series of tests in front of NFL evaluators at a sports training facility outside of Cologne on Oct. 19.
Participants will be evaluated for a possible spot in the NFL’s International Player Pathway program. Following the combine, a select number who show the potential to play in the NFL will be invited to train in the U.S. for three months.
NORTON: Miami defensive tackle Kendrick Norton, a former University of Miami standout, has broken his silence following a car crash that ended his football career last week, and is seeking financial help.
Norton, who has been hospitalized since the July 4 accident, posted an Instagram story photo on Monday of his right thumb up with a message: “I’m good thank you to everyone that checked on me!!! I’m good thanks for the prayers to God be the glory.”
A GoFundMe account for Norton, who had his left arm amputated as a result of the accident, was created with a goal of raising $150,000. As of Tuesday afternoon, it raised more than $9,000.