Pat O’Connor, the seventh-round NFL Draft pick who carved out an eight-year career while winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has announced his retirement from football.
‘What a ride it’s been,’ he wrote in a lengthy caption on Instagram. ‘After 9 incredible years, I think it’s finally time to hang up the cleats.’
The 32-year-old Eastern Michigan product failed to make the Detroit Lions out of training camp in 2017 but instead caught on in Tampa, where he became a solid special teams contributor while recording a memorable blocked punt in 202. He also managed to crack the defensive rotation and ultimately recorded 2.5 career sacks, but the bulk of O’Connor’s production came on special teams.
O’Connor was a member of the 2020 Bucs and went on to play every special teams snap of the Super Bowl LV victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. And until his retirement, O’Connor was one of a dwindling number of active players to have suited up with Tom Brady.
Former teammates of the seven-time Super Bowl champion still playing in the NFL include Tristan Wirfs, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin Jr. and Vita Vea from his time in Tampa as well as Joe Thuney, Ted Karras and Deatrich Wise Jr. from Brady’s New England Patriots years.
‘He’s the dad of the team,’ O’Connor told WGN about Brady as the quarterback was retiring in 2022. ‘Everyone respected everything he said.
O’Connor was a special teams standout during his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
O’Connor was also one of a dwindling number of active NFL players to team with Tom Brady
After failing to make the Lions in 2017, the Eastern Michigan product returned to Detroit in 2025
‘He’s an elite leader,’ he continued. ‘Just the way he presents himself on and off the field, it kind of makes you want to emulate him in a way, so it kind of makes you be a great person and motivates you to be a great person.’
O’Connor did not mention Brady by name in his retirement announcement, nor did he call out any specific teammate or coach. Instead, the Chicago native thanked everyone who helped make the game so rewarding.
‘If you had told my younger self that I’d play this long, spend my entire career with just two teams, get drafted, and win a Super Bowl, he would have called you crazy,’ O’Connor wrote. ‘But here we are.
‘I want to thank all of my teammates and friends I met along the way,’ he continued. ‘There are far too many to name, so I won’t—but you know who you are. Thank you for the memories, the friendships, and everything in between.
‘Thank you to all of the coaches who impacted my career and helped me become a better player and an even better person, both on and off the field.
O’Connor’s retirement announcement comes at the perfect time in his life: Just weeks after he married fiancée Tess. ‘Tess Kathleen O’Connor has a nice ring to it,’ he wrote on Instagram
‘As one chapter closes, another begins. Now it’s time to enter the real world. I’m beyond excited and ready for whatever comes next,’ he concluded. ‘Thank you, football, for everything.’
A product of St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago, where Robert F. Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) once taught physics and math, the 6ft 4in O’Connor became a standout defensive end at Eastern Michigan between 2012 and 2016.
In addition to his doomed first stint in Detroit and his successful run in Tampa, O’Connor also returned to the Lions in 2024 and 2025.
O’Connor’s retirement announcement comes at the perfect time in his life: Just weeks after he married fiancée Tess Pomorski.
‘Tess Kathleen O’Connor has a nice ring to it,’ he wrote on Instagram after the ceremony near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
