In a media workroom packed with family, teammates, coaches, owners and the Patriots media beat writers, Rob Ninkovich retired in an emotional ceremony that celebrated his Patriots career.
It is hard to characterize Ninkovich as anything other than another quintessential Patriots success story during the Bill Belichick reign. Deemed too slow to play linebacker, too small to play defensive end, he was cut four times by a couple of teams before he landed in New England. Coincidentally, he arrived right around the time that Tedy Bruschi retired, something our Ian Logue pointed out on Friday as we discussed his possible retirement.