Back when the Philadelphia Eagles finally broke through to win a Super Bowl in 2017, they had many excellent contributors.
One of them was a guy in his first season in Philly who didn’t even play the full year but still played his best season in the NFL.
That was Ronald Darby, the cornerback the Eagles acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Bills for a third-round pick and a depth wide receiver.
In the Super Bowl season, Darby played just eight games, but he still finished with a career-high three interceptions.
On Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Darby is retiring rather than report to the Houston Texans, for whom he signed this offseason.
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Darby was a second-round pick of the Bills in 2015. He was runner-up for Defensive Rookie of the Year in his first season.
The Eagles acquired him in 2017, and after those three interceptions in year one, he added one in 2018 and two in 2019.
After that, Darby entered the journeyman phase of his career, in which he played for Washington, Denver, Baltimore and Jacksonville. Darby never intercepted a pass with those teams.
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He signed a $2.5 million deal with Houston this offseason that he won’t cash in.
Darby retires with eight interceptions, 106 passes defensed and 447 tackles.
He’s 31 years old and steps away before he had to. He’s the second NFL player to do so today, after Lions lineman Frank Ragnow retired Monday morning at age 29.
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