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Thanks for a great career.
Nick Hardwick wasn't fooling anyone.
It was obvious, he knew.
The worst-kept secret in San Diego was thinly veiled by his thinning, the once stocky, 293-pound Charger sizing down in recent months, more fit for a surfboard than shoulder pads. Not since college had the chisel-jawed center been so slim.
Hardwick nonetheless waited to publicly declare his NFL future until a time he viewed appropriate.
The 2014 season ended Sunday.
The time, with it, arrived.
Very well the finest player at his position in franchise history — Don Macek and Courtney Hall also had decorated careers — will announce his retirement Tuesday, he said in a Monday phone interview. Hardwick, a former Pro Bowler and five-time team captain, spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Chargers. They'll hold a morning press conference to commemorate his tenure.
Hardwick will attend, all 208 pounds of him.
He long planned, after considering retirement last offseason, for 2014 to be his final year. That plan began sooner than hoped when recurrent neck issues continued in training camp and the September opener, leading to his placement on injured reserve for the first time. Not wanting to distract from teammates' ongoing season, the 33-year-old publicly declined to make any decision official despite game-day TV cameras showing him on the sideline, resembling a small forward.
He waited until the Super Bowl.
In the final minutes of the fourth quarter Sunday, he reached out via text message. On Monday came the phone call.
It was time.
"I'm nervous about tomorrow just because it's so final," Hardwick said. "To declare your intentions publicly and vocally, it's so final. But I'm also really excited. It's going to be a really good celebration of a fabulous career. I've had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. That's where I am now, reflecting what I took from it.
"I got a fast track to life on a professional and personal development course. I feel like I have the wisdom of a 60-year-old in a 33-year-old's body, and I'm so thankful for that. Everything is so elevated in football. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low. … It's a big soul-searching journey. I'm really thankful that I guess I found the sport, and the sport found me."
How to honor Hardwick, how to do him justice, becomes the next challenge.
The Chargers will face it at a press conference expected to attract some of his closest former teammates and organization members.
Hardwick entered the league in 2004, the same year as quarterback Philip Rivers, as a third-round draft pick. He went on to start 146 games, including 10 in the postseason, while valued for his toughness, intelligence and dependability. He was high-energy in practice. He was high-energy during games, before which he regularly threw up on account of nerves, he said, about meeting the performance standard he set.
Hardwick was as respected as any Charger to come through the organization in recent memory.
Not a bad career for a Purdue walk-on.
Not a bad career for an Indiana state champion prep wrestler who didn't play a down of high-school football; he rode the bench his freshman year.
"It's like I'm going to witness my own football funeral," Hardwick said of the press conference. "Now you get to see who shows up to your funeral. It's not that tragic, of course, but I'm nervous that nobody is even going to be there. It's not even about that. It's about completing that chapter in my life and moving onto the next."
Hardwick plans to be involved in media.
He also hopes to work closely with the Chargers organization.
Hardwick wishes not to make the Tuesday retirement about his spinal issues, given that stepping away from the game at this time was his plan all along. But that said, they forced the issue.
It will be a wait-and-see, he said, to gauge to what extent he'll deal with the medical issue in retired life. He still deals with some numbing today.
"Nerves were getting compressed through various forms," Hardwick said. "My hands were going numb during training camp for weeks at a time. I was losing feeling in my fingers up through my elbows. I was having a bunch of stingers. On a daily basis, my hands were asleep, my elbows were burning, and I was losing a normalcy to life. It became reckless to continue playing. ...
"Physically, I'm not beating my head against a wall for a living, and that's a relief."
Hardwick suffered an ankle injury in 2009 that required surgery. He returned later that season and, as a lynchpin to an offensive line overwhelmed by turnover the next few years, didn't missed a game until Week 2 this season.
In that Week 2 game, Rivers honored him.
He replaced the No. 17 sticker on the back of his helmet with No. 61, a nod to Hardwick's jersey number. Rivers threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns in an upset of the Seahawks, the start of a five-game winning streak.
Hardwick's absence was felt, though, over the course of the season. The team wound up starting five different centers. One of them, rookie third-round pick Chris Watt, projects as the possible center of the future.
Hardwick, whose retirement comes weeks after veteran guard Jeromey Clary's, said he is thankful for the friendships formed.
He is thankful for the impact that working to become a better teammate and player had on his life.
"The intensity, the passion, the pressure, all of it makes you a better person," Hardwick said. "But I guess, if I were to look back at my career, what do I want people to think about me? I just want them to know that I cared, that I cared about the team, that I cared about my teammates, that I cared about my own performance, that I cared about representing my family the way they ought to be represented. …
"All I want to say is I cared. I cared a lot, and I hope it showed in my work."
Nick Hardwick wasn't fooling anyone.
It was obvious, he knew.
The worst-kept secret in San Diego was thinly veiled by his thinning, the once stocky, 293-pound Charger sizing down in recent months, more fit for a surfboard than shoulder pads. Not since college had the chisel-jawed center been so slim.
Hardwick nonetheless waited to publicly declare his NFL future until a time he viewed appropriate.
The 2014 season ended Sunday.
The time, with it, arrived.
Very well the finest player at his position in franchise history — Don Macek and Courtney Hall also had decorated careers — will announce his retirement Tuesday, he said in a Monday phone interview. Hardwick, a former Pro Bowler and five-time team captain, spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Chargers. They'll hold a morning press conference to commemorate his tenure.
Hardwick will attend, all 208 pounds of him.
He long planned, after considering retirement last offseason, for 2014 to be his final year. That plan began sooner than hoped when recurrent neck issues continued in training camp and the September opener, leading to his placement on injured reserve for the first time. Not wanting to distract from teammates' ongoing season, the 33-year-old publicly declined to make any decision official despite game-day TV cameras showing him on the sideline, resembling a small forward.
He waited until the Super Bowl.
In the final minutes of the fourth quarter Sunday, he reached out via text message. On Monday came the phone call.
It was time.
"I'm nervous about tomorrow just because it's so final," Hardwick said. "To declare your intentions publicly and vocally, it's so final. But I'm also really excited. It's going to be a really good celebration of a fabulous career. I've had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. That's where I am now, reflecting what I took from it.
"I got a fast track to life on a professional and personal development course. I feel like I have the wisdom of a 60-year-old in a 33-year-old's body, and I'm so thankful for that. Everything is so elevated in football. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low. … It's a big soul-searching journey. I'm really thankful that I guess I found the sport, and the sport found me."
How to honor Hardwick, how to do him justice, becomes the next challenge.
The Chargers will face it at a press conference expected to attract some of his closest former teammates and organization members.
Hardwick entered the league in 2004, the same year as quarterback Philip Rivers, as a third-round draft pick. He went on to start 146 games, including 10 in the postseason, while valued for his toughness, intelligence and dependability. He was high-energy in practice. He was high-energy during games, before which he regularly threw up on account of nerves, he said, about meeting the performance standard he set.
Hardwick was as respected as any Charger to come through the organization in recent memory.
Not a bad career for a Purdue walk-on.
Not a bad career for an Indiana state champion prep wrestler who didn't play a down of high-school football; he rode the bench his freshman year.
"It's like I'm going to witness my own football funeral," Hardwick said of the press conference. "Now you get to see who shows up to your funeral. It's not that tragic, of course, but I'm nervous that nobody is even going to be there. It's not even about that. It's about completing that chapter in my life and moving onto the next."
Hardwick plans to be involved in media.
He also hopes to work closely with the Chargers organization.
Hardwick wishes not to make the Tuesday retirement about his spinal issues, given that stepping away from the game at this time was his plan all along. But that said, they forced the issue.
It will be a wait-and-see, he said, to gauge to what extent he'll deal with the medical issue in retired life. He still deals with some numbing today.
"Nerves were getting compressed through various forms," Hardwick said. "My hands were going numb during training camp for weeks at a time. I was losing feeling in my fingers up through my elbows. I was having a bunch of stingers. On a daily basis, my hands were asleep, my elbows were burning, and I was losing a normalcy to life. It became reckless to continue playing. ...
"Physically, I'm not beating my head against a wall for a living, and that's a relief."
Hardwick suffered an ankle injury in 2009 that required surgery. He returned later that season and, as a lynchpin to an offensive line overwhelmed by turnover the next few years, didn't missed a game until Week 2 this season.
In that Week 2 game, Rivers honored him.
He replaced the No. 17 sticker on the back of his helmet with No. 61, a nod to Hardwick's jersey number. Rivers threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns in an upset of the Seahawks, the start of a five-game winning streak.
Hardwick's absence was felt, though, over the course of the season. The team wound up starting five different centers. One of them, rookie third-round pick Chris Watt, projects as the possible center of the future.
Hardwick, whose retirement comes weeks after veteran guard Jeromey Clary's, said he is thankful for the friendships formed.
He is thankful for the impact that working to become a better teammate and player had on his life.
"The intensity, the passion, the pressure, all of it makes you a better person," Hardwick said. "But I guess, if I were to look back at my career, what do I want people to think about me? I just want them to know that I cared, that I cared about the team, that I cared about my teammates, that I cared about my own performance, that I cared about representing my family the way they ought to be represented. …
"All I want to say is I cared. I cared a lot, and I hope it showed in my work."
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