During the 2023 campaigns, james ferentz played in one game with the patriots. He will instead focus on his post-playing days rather than attempting to continue his playing career. On monday, the veteran offensive lineman declared his retirement. Ferentz joined the texans as an udfa in 2014. He didn’t make his broncos debut until a year later, and he made 14 appearances that season. As the team won the super bowl, ferentz was an auxiliary member of denver’s o-line, marking an exciting start to ferentz’s playing days in the nfl. The iowa alum remained in the mile high city for a second campaign, though he did not see any action until now.
After joining the patriots, he started a pair of games in 2019. Ferentz played between 134 and 269 offensive snaps each season from 2019-22, including time at center as well as at both guard positions. As a veteran member of new england’s offensive front, the 34-year-old served as a de facto coach this season (the final one of his contract). Since his father, kirk, has been iowa’s head coach since 1999, he has family connections to the coaching ranks. After a stint on the patriots’ sidelines, his brother brian has been on the hawkeyes’ staff for over a decade. It would be interesting to see if james follows in their footsteps in his post-playing years.
Ferentz’s note reads in part, “thank you for the combined ten years of my career to the houston texans, denver broncos, and new england patriots organizations.” “thank you bill o’brien, gary kubiak, and bill belichick for giving me the opportunity to play pro football when no one else would,” ferentz said in the regular season in 2019, but he did dress for one game in the patriots’ super bowl run that year. He will thus enter the tournament as a two-time champion and a veteran of 63 total games between regular and postseason play. He earned $5.76 million in career earnings.
