LINCOLN — Former Nebraska football superstar Ndamukong Suh is now a former professional player too.
The decorated defensive tackle announced his retirement on social media Saturday morning, officially ending a 13-season NFL career that began when the Detroit Lions selected him No. 2 overall in the 2010 draft. Suh’s last on-field appearance was Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, when he and the Philadelphia Eagles lost to Kansas City by a field goal.
Suh was available for NFL teams to sign in the last two years and stayed in shape for the possibility. Ultimately, he didn't play during the 2023 or 2024 seasons.
The timing for stepping away from football coincides with the one-year anniversary of the death of his father, Michael, whose final piece of advice to his son was to let football go after a run that include five Pro Bowl nods and a Super Bowl title with Tampa Bay in 2021.
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“That conversation stayed with me,” Suh wrote. “So today, one year later, I’m honoring that wish.”
Suh played five seasons with Detroit, three with Miami, one with the Los Angeles Rams, three with Tampa Bay and one with Philadelphia. The 38-year-old who has primarily lived in Florida late in his career collected total NFL earnings estimated at more than $168 million.
“I left it all on the field,” Suh wrote, “and now I’m stepping away with peace and gratitude.”
Suh has been busy beyond playing the past two years as both a father of twin boys and as an entrepreneur. He’s worked as a part-time broadcast analyst. Since becoming involved with Omaha-based Blue Sushi out of college, he’s ventured further into hospitality and is a co-owner of numerous local Portland food chains.
Through his Generals Restaurant Group, he owns and operates other establishments in three time zones. He’s an investor in technology and real estate. He’s been a lead advocate for exploring ways to make housing costs attainable to all.
Suh also created the “No Free Lunch” podcast to spark “real conversation” around strategy and education for living well.
“Because freedom doesn’t come from fame,” Suh said. “It comes from knowledge and how you move.”
The native of Portland, Oregon, became a national force at Nebraska, culminating in 2009 when he was a Heisman Trophy finalist and a tackle-for-loss machine on the most dominant NU defense of the 21st century. He returned to Lincoln last fall to be inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame and spoke with current Huskers then.
“It’s really a great powerful message when your players see that the best days of their lives are not their recruiting rankings and are not how they were drafted, even,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said at the time. “Each thing should be better than the last and life after football should be the ultimate.”
That’s the plan for Suh, who is taking that laser focus and relentless strategic competitiveness into his next chapter.
“I’ve lived. I’ve learned. I’ve built. I’ve failed. I’ve succeeded,” Suh wrote. “And now I want to share what I’ve learned; especially with athletes, entrepreneurs and young people navigating life and money.”
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July 12, 2024 was the hardest day of my life.
It’s the day I said goodbye to my father, the man who raised me, shaped me, challenged me, and believed in me before I believed in myself.
He wasn’t just a dad. He was my idol, my coach, and my anchor.
He taught me what it meant to… pic.twitter.com/WkefQaDrsQ
— Ndamukong Suh (@NdamukongSuh) July 12, 2025
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