C.J. Uzomah is done playing football — and he made sure the world knew it happened as a Cincinnati Bengal. The 33-year-old tight end announced his retirement Monday after 10 NFL seasons, closing the book in the same city where his career began in 2015.

Uzomah broke the news himself, choosing sentiment over a press release. "History has a way of repeating itself and there's no place I'd want to formally announce my retirement, than the place that started it all for me," he wrote in his announcement, calling Cincinnati his "second home" before signing off: "Cincinnati, thank you for everything. Who Dey Forever."

"History has a way of repeating itself and there's no place I'd want to formally announce my retirement, than the place that started it all for me."

The numbers tell the story of a steady, well-traveled pro rather than a superstar: 192 catches for 1,881 yards and 16 touchdowns across 113 games and 85 starts, per career figures compiled by Field Level Media. Cincinnati took him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft out of Auburn, and he spent his first seven seasons there before finishing out with two years on the New York Jets and a final, injury-slowed 2024 campaign with the Philadelphia Eagles, who won Super Bowl LIX that season while Uzomah was sidelined on injured reserve. He sat out 2025 entirely before making Monday's announcement official.

The Team He Never Really Left

Uzomah's best football came in a Bengals uniform he wore through their surprise run to Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, when he posted career highs of 49 catches, 493 yards and five touchdowns and became a locker-room fixture known as much for his personality — including a since-famous vow to bathe in Skyline Chili if Cincinnati won the title — as for his production. The Bengals lost that Super Bowl to the Rams, but the affection stuck, and the team leaned into it Monday, posting a tribute that read "Retiring in Stripes" and "Bengal Forever" across the club's social channels.

The announcement lands in the thick of NFL cutdown season, with teams trimming rosters toward the Aug. 30 deadline and plenty of veterans at Uzomah's position fighting for the last spots on 53-man rosters — a backdrop that makes his voluntary exit, on his own terms and in his own words, stand out from the wave of releases dominating this week's transaction wire.

There's no indication of a broadcasting or coaching move yet; for now, Uzomah's football story ends as it started, in stripes.