Rice to sign with 49ers to retire with longtime team

 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- One retirement was not good enough for Jerry Rice.

 

The San Francisco 49ers announced Saturday that Rice, the NFL's all-time leading receiver, will sign a contract with the club Thursday and retire for good in November as a member of the team with which he spent his first 16 seasons.

 

Retirement has kept Jerry Rice, with dance partner Anna Trebunskaya, on his toes.

 

Rice retired Sept. 5 with the Denver Broncos. Then 42, he had made the Broncos' 53-man roster but was not projected to be their third receiver, so he elected to call it quits.

 

"I'm excited to return to San Francisco to retire as a 49er," Rice said. "This was my home for many years and this is where so many memories were made. I thank the entire 49ers organization for the opportunity to stand on the field to say goodbye."

 

Rice possesses dozens of NFL records, including career receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895) and receiving touchdowns (197).

 

The 49ers said in a statement that Rice officially will retire Nov. 19, when the team faces the Seattle Seahawks, with whom he played his final NFL games in 2004. San Francisco will honor Rice during a halftime ceremony with a video montage, and the future Hall of Famer subsequently will give a speech.

 

"While Jerry is going to sign his contract on Aug. 24 to retire as a 49er, it really will not be official until he celebrates in front of the fans on Nov. 19," team owner John York said. "Having Jerry retire as a member of the 49ers is extremely important to [my wife] Denise and me, and it is equally important to our fans and every former 49ers player that has ever worn the uniform."

 

The 13-time Pro Bowl receiver was a member of three Super Bowl-winning teams with the 49ers. Rice set the NFL record for touchdowns in a season (22) in 1987 and receiving yards (1,848) eight years later. His string of 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons ended in 1997, when he suffered an injury against Tampa Bay in the season's first game.

 

In Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, Rice captured MVP honors after catching 11 passes for 215 yards in the 49ers' dramatic 20-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

 

Rice played with the Oakland Raiders from 2001-04 before spending the final 13 games of the 2004 campaign with the Seahawks.

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Following in the footsteps of Seau who signed a one day contract with San Diego.

That's not following in the footsteps of Seau at all. Seau is still playing. Rice retired (and killed football for me) awhile ago and is only re-retiring on the team he should do it as.

That's not following in the footsteps of Seau at all. Seau is still playing. Rice retired (and killed football for me) awhile ago and is only re-retiring on the team he should do it as.

 

 

Bingo

That's not following in the footsteps of Seau at all. Seau is still playing. Rice retired (and killed football for me) awhile ago and is only re-retiring on the team he should do it as.

 

Yes but before he announced his "retirement", Seau signed a one day contract with the Chargers so he could "retire" as a Charger. It made his whole fake retirement that much more despicable.

 

I didn't mean Rice was going to come back to play. He has a little more sense than that. I'd hope.

We all remember you as a 49er Jerry, you didn't have to go through all these shenanigans.

We all remember you as a 49er Jerry, you didn't have to go through all these shenanigans.

 

He is right to retire officially as a 49er. However, he should have requested his release from the Broncos so he could have done this with the Niners the first time around.

Signing a one-day contract to retire as a member of Team XYZ is probably one of the stupidest things about football. He'll always be remembered as a 49er.

Emmitt did the same thing.. who cares.

Good thing he did this, otherwise wed all remember him as a Bronco

I'm definitely buying tickets to the November 19th game against Seattle where they're honoring him