Miami Dolphins

Dolphins' Arian Foster makes surprise retirement announcement

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:51 p.m. ET

Nunzio Ingrassia

Miami Dolphins veteran running back Arian Foster announced his retirement Monday, releasing a statement to Uninterrupted.

“There comes a time in every athlete’s career when their ambition and their body are no longer on the same page,” Foster wrote. “I’ve reached that point. It’s hard to write those words because this game has been everything to me … my therapy, my joy, my solace, my enemy.”

Foster, who is in his eighth season in the NFL and first with the Dolphins, cited the “punishment” the game doles out as the reason he's calling it a career.

“I know it’s not commonplace to do it midseason, but my body just can’t take the punishment this game asks for any longer,” Foster wrote.

Foster, who was selected to four Pro Bowls, spent his first seven years in the NFL with the Texans, but played a full 16-game season only twice. He rushed for 6,527 yards and 54 touchdowns in 80 games.

From 2010-2012, Foster was one of the best running backs in the league, scoring 41 touchdowns and rushing for at least 1,200 yards each season during that span. But an Achilles injury last season all but finished his time in Houston.

In four games this season in Miami, Foster, 30, had 22 carries for 55 yards and no touchdowns.

BREAKING NEWS: @ArianFoster announces his retirement on UNINTERRUPTED. His story on why he’s walking away. pic.twitter.com/FK09XpkqUo
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) October 25, 2016