Forte: Veteran running back calls it quits after 10 seasons — the last two with N.Y.

Matt Forte spent the past few weeks weighing his difficult decision — to continue a terrific playing career or walk away from the game he loves.

On Wednesday, one of the NFL’s most versatile running backs carried the ball for the final time.

The 32-year-old Forte announced his retirement from playing after 10 NFL seasons in a humble and heartfelt statement on Twitter and Instagram.

“It’s time for the workhorse to finally rest in his stable,” Forte wrote.

He had one year remaining on his contract with the Jets, but knee issues during his two seasons in New York, as well as his age, made him a likely salary cap casualty this offseason.

Instead, Forte went out on his own terms.

“For the past 10 years, I’ve been blessed to play professionally a game that I’ve loved since I was 6 years old,” Forte wrote. “But af-

ter much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to retire from the NFL.”

The move saves the Jets $3 million on their salary cap — the same amount if they had released him.

Forte’s 9,796 yards rushing rank him 33rd on the NFL’s career list. He also had 554 receptions, including

setting the league record for running backs with 102 catches in 2014.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection’s 14,468 yards from scrimmage over the past 10 years are the most of any NFL player during that span.

Forte spent his first eight seasons with Chicago after being drafted in the second round out of Tulane in 2008. With the Bears, he established himself as one of the best all-around running

backs in the league as an electrifying presence who could make plays running or catching the ball out of the backfield.

Forte ran for more than 1,000 yards in five of his eight seasons with Chicago, and caught at least 50 passes six times.

He became a free agent after the 2015 season, and the Jets signed him to a threeyear, $12 million contract.

Forte led New York with 813 yards rushing, but it

was a career low for the running back who ended the season on injured reserve. He had arthroscopic surgery on the knee at the end of the 2016 season to repair a torn meniscus.

Forte was ready for the season opener, but swelling in the knee worsened last November and Forte said he was “basically playing on one leg” since. He ended up on injured reserve to end the season for the second straight year.