Wide Receiver Derrick Mason announced his retirement from the NFL as a Baltimore Ravens player.
Mason called time on his 15-year career at a news conference in Baltimore on Monday that included Ravens coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome.
Mason, who spent six seasons with the Ravens, became their all-time leader in yards (5,777) and receptions (471).
"The decision wasn't hard to retire, and the decision where to retire was just as easy," Mason said. "Because like I said, my heart was here, it never left. My body left but my heart stayed right in these rooms.
"This is my football home. Tennessee gave me an opportunity to play this game and I will be forever grateful to them. But when I came here, it just felt like, regardless of where I was at, this place felt like home. This is my football family."
Mason played eight seasons with Tennessee before signing for the Ravens as a free agent. He spent last season with the New York Jets and Houston Texans after being released by Baltimore.
"I was already basically in retirement mode," Mason said. "My heart was still here in Baltimore, but I still had to go perform a job. I never had the sense of community, the sense of family at those other places. So I knew it was about time for me to give it up.
"I didn't have that passion that I once had. I've always said, 'When I can't play the game and play it like a little kid and have fun playing it, then there's no need for me to do it anymore. When it becomes a job, I need to quit.' It became a job last year."
"I played the game as hard as I could each and every game. I practiced as hard as I could each and every practice. ... The thing I'm most proud of is being able to stay on the field and be as consistent as I was over my 15-year career."
The 38-year-old Mason did not miss a game for the Ravens, and played in 149 straight from 2002 to 2011.
"Your competitive spirit, your toughness, mentally and physically, your work ethic. Those things could never be challenged," Harbaugh said to Mason.
Newsome said Mason was the best signing he had ever made. "Over the 16 years, 17 years that we've been here, we've signed a lot of free agents, a lot of them.
"But I don't know if there is any one player over the span of their career that did more for this organization than Derrick Mason did."
