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Longtime NFL center Alex Mack will retire after 13 seasons in the league, the NFL Network reported Thursday.
Mack, 36, played for the San Francisco 49ers last season, where he won his seventh Pro Bowl selection and helped the team win the NFC Championship.
A section of the entire 2010s, Mack was considered one of the best centers in the league. He spent his first seven seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns before joining the Atlanta Falcons, where he anchored his offensive line for five seasons.
Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the 49ers, recently said he held out hope and would keep the door open if Mack decided to return to San Francisco one more season.
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San Francisco 49ers center Alex Mack (50) during a game against the Los Angeles Rams on January 9, 2022 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California (Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Football isn’t the easiest thing to do, no matter how much you enjoy the competition, and he’s old there,” Shanahan said last month on NBC Sports. “But in terms of how it looks on the tape and how it was [last season]everyone knows he can still play.
“We’re crossing our fingers about Mack, but we need to plan and know that we can’t count on that.”
That plan saw the team pick two offensive linemen in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Niners selected Spencer Burford at No. 134 overall and Nick Zakelj at No. 187 overall.
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Mack was selected No. 21 overall by the Browns in the 2009 NFL Draft after playing college football in California. He was as reliable as they were, and started all 16 games in each of his first five seasons in the league.
Alex Mack (55) of the Browns during a preseason game between the Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on August 29, 2015. (Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire / Corbis / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Mack won three Pro Bowls during his time in Cleveland and helped bolster an offensive line that already included tackle Joe Thomas.
Mack later signed with the Falcons in 2016. In his first season, he won the first of four consecutive Pro Bowl selections, while helping quarterback Matt Ryan win the league MVP.
In the playoffs, he helped Atlanta reach the Super Bowl, but the Falcons famously lost to the New England Patriots after a 28-3 win.
Atlanta Falcon Alex Mack (51) on the sidelines during a game against the Green Bay Packers at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on October 30, 2016. (Kevin Liles / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Mack started 196 regular season games in his career. He hasn’t missed a game in 11 of his 13 NFL seasons.
He started all 17 games for the 49ers last season, as the team won the seventh most yards on the ground in the league.
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San Francisco lost to eventual Super Bowl Los Angeles Rams champion in this year’s NFC title game.