One of the longest-tenured Pittsburgh Steelers is on the road to retirement. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette reports that defensive end Aaron Smith is likely to retire after reports that he would be released by the Steelers last week.
Smith has been with the Steelers since 1999 and was a foundational part of the defenses that took Pittsburgh to three Super Bowls and two Super Bowl wins in his time with the team, racking up 44 sacks for the only NFL team he's ever played for. But the once-reliable Smith, who played in 149 of a possible 154 regular season contests for Pittsburgh from 2000 to 2008, had been beset by injury woes in recent years, appearing in just 15 regular season games since 2009 and recording only 16 tackles and three sacks over that period. And at 36, retirement had always seemed like his logical offseason move.
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