On Tuesday morning, former Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower announced his retirement.

Hightower, 33, played his last NFL snaps in Jan. 2022 during a playoff loss at Buffalo. That games concluded a nine-year career in New England, where he became a three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowler. Hightower is widely recognized as one of the Patriots’ greatest playoff performers ever.

On Wednesday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft released statements on the end of Hightower’s career.

Bill Belichick

“Dont’a’s blend of intelligence, positional versatility and physicality made him one of the rarest of players that I have ever coached. Very few players were capable of as much as Dont’a, who could win from multiple positions with power, athleticism and his mind. His skills were most evident in two of the all-time great plays in franchise history, which led directly to two Super Bowl championships, but date back to the start of his decorated college and NFL careers. As a rookie, it was clear that Dont’a was already a mature, highly-competitive player who could make an immediate impact, which he did in his first game and consistently over the course of a decade.”

Robert Kraft

“Dont’a Hightower is a champion. He won at every level he ever played and always excelled in championship games. He helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls after winning two national championships at Alabama to become just the second player to win multiple championships at each level. He was a versatile linebacker whose game-altering plays in each of our Super Bowls earned him the moniker ‘Mr. February.’ Some of his greatest performances came on our biggest stage, including a crucial goal-line tackle against Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX, his strip stack against Atlanta two years later that sparked the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, and a two-sack performance that was part of a stifling defense which held the explosive L.A. Rams to just three points in Super Bowl LIII. I congratulate Dont’a on a tremendous career. We are honored to call Dont’a a Patriot and will always celebrate him as a champion.”