Following yet another injury-related setback, this time while training away from Winter Park this summer, longtime Vikings offensive tackle Phil Loadholt informed the franchise Monday that he was officially retiring from the NFL.
“I just figured that my body was telling me that it was time for me to go ahead and transition out of the game,” Loadholt said Monday on a conference call.
The towering lineman, selected by the Vikings in the second round of the 2009 NFL draft, had been a punishing run blocker and one of the NFL’s finest right tackles before a string of injuries brought his career to a halt.