Former Chiefs center Daniel Kilgore retires from NFL

After 10 years playing football at the highest level, offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore announced his retirement from the National Football League on Monday.

Just as NFL teams are preparing to gear up again for another season, Kilgore made it clear on Monday that he felt ready to call it a career. It was a ride that ended with the high of playing in a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in his final season.

Kilgore first entered the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers as a fifth round pick back in the 2011 NFL Draft after playing his college ball at Appalachian State. He only played in a single game that season, but his potential was clear to the Niners and he climbed the depth chart after acclimating to the league.

From there, Kilgore appeared in every game for San Francisco in each of the next two seasons and became a starter in year four at center, a position he would hold for the next few years.

In 2018, the Miami Dolphins swung a trade for Kilgore despite the fact that the Niners had signed him to a three-year extension shortly before that. Kilgore would start for two seasons with the Dolphins after the Niners upgraded to Weston Richburg. He was allowed to leave in 2020 after the Dolphins declined a team option.

As for the Chiefs, they signed Kilgore after the preseason was largely over and shortly before active rosters were due to the league last season. Kilgore actually took over for starting center Austin Reiter at midseason for a few games in what was clearly an experiment to upgrade the spot, but Reiter returned to hold down the role for the rest of the year and postseason.

This offseason, the Chiefs allowed both players to walk and restocked the center position with a second-round investment in the 2021 NFL Draft in Creed Humphrey and by signing Austin Blythe away from the L.A. Rams.

Kilgore played for three NFL teams in 10 professional seasons and appeared in 98 career games.