There may be one less Aplington-Parkersburg alum in the NFL next season. Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann wrapped up his 16th season in the NFL as the Chiefs beat Denver on Sunday. Wiegmann won’t say for sure that he’s retiring, but does that that a 17th season in the league does not look very likely.
“It’s been a good ride for me…it’s be tough for me to come back I know that,” Wiegmann says. He says he would never tell anyone he was going to retire, because he does not want to be singled out for attention.
Wiegmann has started 175 consecutive games dating back to the 2001 season, but says that he has run into some injuries of late. “I play football for a reason, I don’t play it to necessarily make the money…I play it because it’s what I like to do,” Wiegman says.
Wiegmann was an undrafted free agent coming out of Iowa and spent a year on the Colts’ practice squad before breaking into the NFL with the Jets in 1997. He says that he never expected to have such a lengthy career, especially after his senior year when he injured his foot and all the doctors told him he wouldn’t play.
Wiegmann says that the biggest difference between the NFL he came into in 1996 and the league that he may be leaving now is the increased influence of money in many aspects of the game. “It’s become more and more of a business and it’s more about money than anything,” Wiegman says.
Wiegmann spent time with the Jets, the Bears, the Broncos, and two stints in Kansas City during his career.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls