Super Bowl Champion Retires After 16 Seasons in NFL

By Brian Jones

A Super Bowl champion is calling it a career. This week, Sam Koch, punter for the Baltimore Ravens, announced his retirement after 16 seasons in the NFL. He will now join the Ravens' coaching staff as a special teams consultant. Koch spent his entire career with the Ravens and played in 239 consecutive games before missing his first game in 2020 when he was placed on the Reserve COVID-19 list. 

"As Ray Lewis would always put it, leave your legacy," Koch said during a press conference. "I always remembered that, and I always tried to find a way that I could leave a legacy. I'm honored to say I left a legacy."  In his career, Koch averaged 45.3 yards per punt. He helped the team win the Super Bowl in 2012 and made his first and only Pro Bowl in 2015. 

"Sam has revolutionized the game of football," Special Teams Coach Randy Brown said. "He introduced the idea that punters could have different types of punts, as well as have punts designed to place the ball inside the 10-yard line and to keep the ball away from returners – who have become much more dynamic in recent years. As a whole, every punter in the NFL owes Sam Koch a debt of gratitude for being the pioneer of change on how punting is executed in this league."  

Koch, 39, played in a total of 256 games for the Ravens, the most in franchise history, according to ESPN. The only active player with longer current service with his team is Aaron Rodgers of the Green bay Packers. With Koch retired, there is only one active player in the NFL who was drafted in 2006, and that's Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis. 

"I remember saying to them: This is a business decision and you guys have to do what you think is best for the Ravens," Koch said. "So, they made that decision, and at that point, I think I knew my time was over and it's OK. I'm very excited for my next chapter in life and all I can do is be very appreciative of the way they handled it." Koch, who is a Nebraska native, played college football at the University of Nebraska (2002-2005) and was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award which is given to the nation's most outstanding punter. 

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