Ron Parker announces retirement from NFL

Former Kansas City Chiefs safety Ron Parker officially thanked the team and Andy Reid as he announced his retirement from the game.

Former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Ron Parker announced he was officially done pursuing a professional football career on Monday with a post on Twitter sharing his news and perspective after an impressive eight-year career in the NFL.

Parker will be familiar to Chiefs fans as the longtime tandem partner of Eric Berry in the defensive backfield in the earliest days of Andy Reid’s tenure with the team. In fact, it was Reid who was a central focus of Parker’s message to the league and fans with his Tweet in which he said, “This man believed in me when no one else didn’t.”

Parker always faced an uphill climb as an NFL prospect considering he went undrafted as a Division II prospect in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Seattle Seahawks were interested enough to bring in the Newberry College product to training camp, however, and the former D2 All-American made his presence felt enough to draw interest from the Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers.

For two years, Parker would carousel between these three teams, including two stints in Seattle, as he searched for a long-term opportunity. Finally a general manager named John Dorsey would leverage the Chiefs top overall position on the NFL’s waiver order to grab Parker shortly before the 2013 season began. Playing for Bob Sutton’s defense, Parker turned heads enough along with Marcus Cooper to grab the last couple spots on the depth chart.

From there, Parker would rise in the ranks to become the long-term starter at free safety opposite Berry. Parker started a single game in his initial campaign under Reid, but he would start 78 games for the next half decade after that.

In six seasons with the Chiefs, Parker had 394 total tackles (including 10 for a loss), 11 interceptions, 8 sacks, and 48 passes defended.