Joe Haden retiring with Browns (not Steelers) on Thursday Night Football

After twelve impressive seasons in the NFL, Joe Haden is officially retiring. However, it won’t be as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers rarely spend big in free agency, but when CB Joe Haden become a cap casualty by the Cleveland Browns in 2017, Kevin Colbert had no choice but to pounce. Haden might have been the most expensive free agent purchase this franchise had prior to that date, but he was worth every penny. Now, after an impressive 12-year career, Haden is hanging up his cleats for good.

Sadly, it won’t be as a member of the Steelers. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Haden has elected to retire as a Brown. He will be honored by Cleveland as the Browns host the Steelers on Thursday Night Football on September 22nd.

Steelers fans should certainly be able to look back and celebrate the career Joe Haden had — even though the majority of it came with a rival AFC North franchise. After being selected by the Browns in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Haden spent seven seasons in Cleveland before playing out the final five seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Haden finishes his NFL career with 148 starts in 158 games played, 615 total tackles, 29 interceptions, 7 forced fumbles, and a whopping 155 pass defenses, via Pro Football Reference. He was a three-time Pro Bowler — twice with the Browns (2013, 2014) and once with the Steelers (2019).

How close was Haden to retiring with the Steelers?

I’m not surprised that Haden is elected to hang up his jersey with the Cleveland Browns at the end of the day. However, it would have been incredibly interesting to see which team the star cornerback would have retired with had he joined Pittsburgh one year earlier.

If his career was split right down the middle (six seasons with the Browns and six in Pittsburgh), would he have chosen to retire a Steeler? It’s hard to say, but he certainly made it clear that he loved this team, the city, and the fan base.

There aren’t a ton of players who can claim that they’ve spent five-plus seasons with just two teams from the same division. At the end of the day, Joe Haden probably made the right move by retiring with the Browns — the team who took him high in the draft and helped develop him into a Pro Bowl cornerback.

It’s safe to say that this is one ‘Browns’ player Steelers fans should have no issue with whatsoever. In fact, we’ve grown quite fond of him. We wish Joe Haden the best of luck in his retirement!