Jon Beason announces retirement: 'I feel like I let people down'

Former New York Giants and Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday. 

Beason, who missed a lot of time due to injuries late in his career, understands why fans may have felt let down by his inability to stay healthy.

Via Tom Rock of Newsday:

Regardless of his retirement decision, Beason's career with the Giants was coming to an end. They dumped two other veterans with persistent injury issues in offensive tackle Will Beatty and guard Geoff Schwartz on Wednesday. Beason's nearly $6 million cap hit made him a prime candidate to be cut, especially since he only played in nine games over the past two seasons.

Beason, 31, did not miss a single game in his first four seasons and made three Pro Bowls during that span. After becoming the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL, the former first-round draft pick suffered the first major injury of his professional career and missed 15 games of the 2011 season with a torn Achilles' tendon. This would be an ongoing trend for the remainder of his career.

A knee injury landed Beason on injured reserve in 2012, and the Panthers traded him the following year. He stayed relatively healthy and had a positive impact in his first season with a new team, earning him a new contract with the Giants.

Although Beason rose to the rank of team captain, the decision to extend his contract turned out to be a mistake. Various knee, ankle, foot and toe injuries robbed him of 23 appearances over the past two seasons.

Beason logged 64 of his 93 career games played in his first four seasons; it took him five more seasons to log the final 29.