*Andrew Witten Retirement Announcement

mithrandir

Hi everyone,

This is a bittersweet day. I will be retiring my first ever sim league player, Andrew Witten, after a long and somewhat successful career. This will be his last season in the purple, gold, and teal. This will not be a sappy goodbye post, as I will be recreating and sticking around. However, I would be remiss if I did not thank @Jay_Doctor and @FleshBagSoup for bringing me to Tijuana way back in S21 and @TomHanks and @IsaStarcrossed for drafting me to New Orleans. I love both those franchises so much and am so grateful for all the friends I made in both of those spots. I had so many amazing teammates over the last 12 seasons that helped my player have some great on-field success. Here are Andrew Witten's career accomplishments, pending the results from the remainder of this season.

Career league records:
938 career tackles (25th)
207 PDs (3rd)
36 interceptions (t-5th)
5 defensive touchdowns (20th)
2 blocked punts (t-1st)

Season league records:
7 interceptions (t-13th)
2 defensive touchdowns (t-12th)

Single-game league records:
7 PDs (t-8th)
3 INTs (t-2nd)

Achievements:
1 Cornerback of the Year award
1 Defensive Performance of the Year award
1 Returner of the Year award
4 CBOY nominations
5 Pro Bowls
2-time ASFC Champion
S29 First-Team All-Pro Cornerback
S30 First-Team All-Pro Returner

Hall of Fame case?
Case for:
Witten was consistently one of the best cornerbacks in the league in his era. He finished top 5 in the two most important categories for CBs, INTs and PDs. He also had two blocked punts, which is pretty cool. He also has played very well into the twilight of his career. He is top five in INTs and PDs in this his final season. He also had perhaps the best two-game stretch of his career this season. In week 9 against Baltimore, he had a blocked punt in the third quarter and four PDs, including an interception in overtime to win the game. Just one week later, Orange County was down three with under two minutes to go and was driving down the field before Witten intercepted the ball, giving him game winning interceptions in consecutive games.

Case against:
Witten played in a league which is kinder to cornerbacks statistically, so that could hurt his case, though he played several season in the DDSPF16 era. His biggest case against, and something I regret, is his lack of postseason success. Despite representing the ASFC in the Ultimus in consecutive seasons, Witten never won the big game. Witten also performed poorly in those postseason runs, recording zero career interceptions.

Thanks for reading this post! Again, thanks to all my teammates who have made me look good over the years and helped me have a better career with this player than I ever imagined was possible.

**zaynzk** · 12-02-2021, 02:20 PM

;(

Kotasa · 12-02-2021, 02:48 PM

Mith, I wouldn't be where I am without you. I always tell people I never expected to be a Luchadore but lord I'm glad I am. Bringing me in after I told you I owned a Lucha mask was a great experience for myself, despite me not writing about Tijuana for my UW that season lmao. I hope we're able to bring you back on your recreate(?) Bless you sir, Lucha for Life.