Rashad Jennings retires as a Giant

Former New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings has retired from the NFL. Though he played for a number of teams in his eight years in the NFL, Jennings opted to retire a Giant.

“I had my most success here as a Giant, both on and off the field,” Jennings said. “It’s such a prestigious organization, and it was the last football team I played for that I felt just a part of home with. From front office top to bottom, and I couldn’t see myself if I’m able to, retire with any other team but the Giants.”

The Giants signed Jennings in 2014 and he was their starting running back until the end of 2016. And though he only got five carries in the Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers, he still calls the experience “amazing”.

“That was an amazing experience,” Jennings said this week. “To finally be playing football at that point for eight years and never making a postseason, never playing that 17th game, and finally, finally making it to the playoffs and getting a chance to smell that atmosphere and also doing it in Lambeau, it was a great experience. As a player, that is something that I will always take with me and cherish. Sometimes as a fan, I don’t think they can properly comprehend the rareness of playing in a playoff game. So I’m honored to be part of a team that made it there, and I can say for the rest of my life that I played in a playoff game.”

And though Jennings is done with football, he has no plans to take it easy in his retirement.

“I want to continue to be myself and spread my wings. I’ve been probably busier than I ever have before. I thought being a free agent I was going to have some more down time, but I don’t know what down time is. So I’m going to take acting further, I’m trying to work for Hallmark potentially, Shad the Poet has some stuff in the mix. I’m going to announce my book release here soon; I’m writing a book and I got several in a row I’m going to write. I got three books in mind. My first one will be done here before December is over. Dancing has become a new-found love that’s going to be in my arsenal. I actually led a dance class last night, so I plan on opening up a ballroom class back in my hometown. I got some things in real estate, I got some things in the fashion world and my foundation. That’s something that’s big to me, philanthropically. So I think I got a different genre every day of the week that I focus on.”

“I got a chance to play with one of the most prestigious organizations in the NFL,” he said. “I got to play under the leadership of a soon to be Hall of Fame coach in coach (Tom) Coughlin. The Mara and Tisch families are amazing. I got to play for some of the greatest fans in the NFL, playing in the mecca of everything. The locker room, my teammates. My locker was right beside Eli Manning’s. We still text today silly stuff. So the relationships in the locker room you can never take for granted.”