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Former Bears defender has hung up the cleats after five seasons

He has called it a career.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
Cleveland Browns defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Former Chicago Bears defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is no longer going to be playing football after his surprising decision.

The Philadelphia Eagles announced that they had placed Tryon-Shoyinka on the reserve/retired list after just signing with the team this offseason. Last year, the Bears traded for him after getting a deal done with the Cleveland Browns, as Tryon-Shoyinka finished with 13 tackles, one tackle for loss, and one quarterback hit with Chicago.

Tryon-Shoyinka was a former first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He racked up 160 tackles and 15 sacks in his 82-game career.

Former Bears defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka has retired

It was a tough 2025 season for Tryon-Shoyinka, as he was originally traded for by the Bears to give the defensive end room some depth, with Dayo Odeyingbo getting hurt. The reality was that Tryon-Shoyinka never really got a lot of snaps and was just reduced to a backup on the roster.

There was a lot of promise at the beginning for Tryon-Shoyinka as he got four or five sacks in each of his first three seasons with the Buccaneers, but the last two years took a tumble for the worse. He struggled to get on the field, and when he was, he just wasn't able to pressure the quarterback.

Philly was supposed to be a fresh start for Tryon-Shoyinka, but he never showed up for mandatory OTAs all of last week. That was a clear sign that things were not going to be the same as they were the previous seasons for him.

Read more: Ex-Bears defender turned UFL opportunity to golden ticket back into NFL

Bears fans can only hope that everything is okay with Tryon-Shoyinka's life after having such a short career that started with him being a first round pick. Maybe someday he will come back and have another run at it.

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