National Football League

McClure retiring after 14 seasons

Published Mar. 25, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Center Todd McClure will officially announce his retirement at a news conference Monday after spending his entire 14-year career with the Atlanta Falcons.

The 36-year-old McClure said on Twitter, ''Hope I can get through it with out getting (too) choked up.'' He added a hashtag with ''falcon4life.''

While McClure had hoped to play another year or two, the team is looking to build a younger roster after losing to San Francisco in the NFC championship game. He said on Twitter nearly two weeks ago that he planned to retire.

McClure was a seventh-round pick out of LSU in 1999 and went on to become one of the team's most durable players. He set a franchise record with 148 consecutive starts and missed only four games over the last dozen seasons.