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Running back Damien Harris, who spent four seasons with the New England Patriots and one with the Buffalo Bills, announced his retirement on Monday.

The Alabama product was a third-round draft pick by New England in 2019 and became a free agent after his one-year deal with Buffalo expired.

“Getting to represent the name on the back of my jersey on and off the field, getting to compete at the highest level with and against the best competitors while winning championships and being coached by the 2 greatest head coaches of all time in Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are all just a small part of what God has done in my life with the game of football,” Harris wrote on Instagram.

“Gratitude is defined as ‘the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.’ Today I am grateful I have found the strength to walk away from the game I love so much.”

Harris, 27, finished his playing career with 2,188 rushing yards for 21 touchdowns and 42 receptions for 297 yards. His best season came in 2021, when he scored 15 touchdowns on 929 yards on the ground.

Harris appeared in six games for the Bills in 2023 and gained 94 yards on 23 attempts, scoring one touchdown. But he suffered a neck sprain against the New York Giants in Week 6 and had to be driven off the field in an ambulance — less than one year after Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest and scary scene — and Harris missed the rest of the season.

–Field Level Media