Ohio State Football: Longevity of NFL Buckeyes impressive

Former Ohio State football player Malcolm Jenkins announced his retirement earlier today. He played in the league for 13 seasons. Not only did he play in the league for a long time, but he was an impactful player in all of the years he played, both for the Saints and Eagles.

Jenkins isn’t the only former Ohio State football player to have some impressive longevity. Ted Ginn Jr., who was a former teammate of Jenkins’ at Ohio State, also recently retired. He actually retired after the 2020 season after playing for 14 seasons.

Mike Nugent technically still hasn’t retired yet. As a kicker, he has the ultimate amount of longevity. He last kicked in the league in 2020 as well. At 40, he could still end up being an option for a team that has an ineffective kicker in the middle of the season.

Obviously, not every Buckeye has a long career like that. The NFL doesn’t have a long shelf-life for its players. But it’s still pretty impressive for one single football program to have players play for that long and still be as effective for as long as these guys were able to do it.

Ohio State certainly has an opportunity for more players to have this kind of longevity with as many players as they put into the NFL every year. It’s always great to see former Buckeyes play well in the league and help their teams win, no matter what team it is.

The class of 2021 Buckeyes will be hoping to have long careers as these former Ohio State football players did.