Matthew Slater Releases a Hall of Fame-Worthy Retirement Announcement
It's not so much the fact Matthew Slater is retiring after 16 seasons and an astonishing 239 games. That we got him for this one final season was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. One of the few positives in an otherwise dismal 2023.
No, the story of today is the way he's called it a career. In true Matthew Slater fashion:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7
For as long as I can remember, football has been one of the passions of my heart. Some of my earliest memories of the game are of watching my dad prepare for training camp with the Los Angeles Rams. We spent every summer in Meridian, Mississippi visiting my grandparents. During those hot summer days in Meridian, I would often tag along with my dad to the local high school field. While I sat in the shade asking for snow cones, my father would methodically put himself through the paces. I remember those days more clearly than I remember his games. They weren't glamorous. There was no crowd around to cheer him on. There were no lights flashing. There were no critics critiquing. Just a man, my hero, dedicating himself to the game he loved so much. Never burdened by the work, he understood it was a blessing to do what he loved. It was a gift from the Lord. To experience the love that my hero had for the game in word and deed was transformative. I soon began to develop those same feelings for the game that had been so good to our family.
For the last 25 years of my life, 16 of them as a New England Patriot, I have been incredibly blessed to be able to emulate the man I saw on those fields in Meridian by playing the game that I love so much. I have given all that I possibly can to respect and honor the game. Though it is time for my relationship with the game to evolve, the love I have for it will last a lifetime.
As a player, God used the game of football to instruct, discipline, encourage, and develop me as a person.
In 2008, I came here as a young man with hopes and dreams. In 2024, I can retire knowing this experience has exceeded any hope or dream I ever had.
Pats Nation, it has been an honor to represent the silver, red, white, and blue for 16 years. Thank you for cheering, challenging and supporting our team each and every year. To the people of New England, thank you for welcoming my family and me into your community and allowing us to call New England home. We are beyond humbled and blessed. You the fans make an NFL player's experience what it is. Thank you for supporting not only me but our great game.
I am a firm believer that in life any experience we have is only made possible by the people surrounding us. My story in football is not my own. I have been supported by hundreds of people along the way. I would like to take the opportunity to thank some of them now.
To my mother and father, Annie and Jackie Slater: Thank you for committing to raise and support me the way you did. Thank you for instilling in me the importance of faith in Christ and the importance of loving the people around you. Mom, you are the backbone of our family. You sacrificed so much, and your belief in me never wavered. To my brother David, my biggest fan, thank you for doing life with me and always having my back. I love you all.
OK, I'm going to need a moment here. This is another one of those moments when I'm grateful when I came back to Barstool full time they said I didn't need to work from HQ. Because I would be the dictionary definition of "public spectacle" right now. And instead of the entire office judging me, I only have my own Hall of Fame-caliber Irish Rose wondering why the man she married is crying manly tears at his laptop. Though she'll never be able to fully comprehend Slater's career and all he's meant to New England.
Including the headline, I've now mentioned the Hall of Fame twice. And that is by design. Because in no uncertain terms Matthew Slater belongs in Canton. Not by unanimous vote. Not on the first ballot necessarily. But soon thereafter. As long as kickoffs and punts are a part of tackle football, he will be the standard by which all other Core-4 special teamers are judged. With 10 Pro Bowls and two All Pros. And if there was a category for what he does on the All Decade Teams, he would've made it for the 2010s, hands down.
There is still some resistance to putting special teamers in the Hall. So far the only pure kickers to get in are Morten Andersen and Jan Stenerud. Ray Guy is the only punter. And while Devin Hester had a fair career as a wideout, he's in solely as a punt- and kick returner. Slater will be something different entirely. A test case. A prototype. A pioneer, blazing a trail for all those who impact a game by blocking and tackling on STs. Because he only touched the ball a handful of times in his career, with 35 kick returns, two rushing attempts and one reception.
His candidacy will be a referendum on whether gunners are respected among the football intelligentsia. And if 16 seasons of this isn't deemed worthy of your vote, do you really deserve a vote?
I have to admit my own biases here. I'm not sure when exactly I declared Slater the best special teamer in Patriots franchise history, but it was many years ago. And I got dragged for it by people saying he could never surpass Troy Brown or Larry Izzo. But I never wavered. And that was a thousand split double teams ago. Hundreds of punt covers where he was in the returner's face as the ball got to him. And dozens upon dozens of forced fair catches that flipped the field and made a difference in the outcome.
And it's personal with me. Oftentimes in the years I was at WEEI the team would send Slater for our Patriots Monday interview. I was convinced they sent him because he had a genius for giving long, expansive and thoughtful answers, while (more importantly) not actually saying anything. You'd be sitting there listening to him answer your question, nodding your head and silently congratulating yourself on your own brilliance for getting him to open up like this. Only to realize he just gave you more articulate version of "It is what it is." But one that made you feel happy to be talking to the man.
So don't go by me. I can't pretend to be neutral when it comes to Matthew Slater. Consider instead what the greatest football historian of our times says about him. And the mighty company in which he places him:
Congratulations on an unparalleled career. Training camp without watching you outwork everyone on the special teams field will not be the same.