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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;San Diego Chargers center Nick&amp;nbsp;Hardwick&amp;nbsp;will announce his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday, reports&amp;nbsp;Michael Gehlken of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;U-T San Diego&lt;/em&gt;. The Chargers will hold a morning press conference.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hardwick, 33, spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Chargers. He&amp;nbsp;appeared in one game this season after recurring neck issues forced him to injured reserve after the season opener.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Over 136 career games (all starts), Hardwick earned one Pro Bowl berth (2006) and was a five-time team captain.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;\u2022 Falcons hire Seahawks DC Dan Quinn as head coach&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"I got a fast track to life on a professional and personal development course,\" Hardwick said of his career, according to the &lt;em&gt;U-T&lt;/em&gt;. \"I feel like I have the wisdom of a 60-year-old in a 33-year-old's body, and I'm so thankful for that. Everything is so elevated in football. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low. \u2026 It's a big soul-searching journey. I'm really thankful that I guess I found the sport, and the sport found me.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hardwick reportedly slimmed down from his listed playing weight of 305 pounds to 208 pounds. According to the&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;U-T&lt;/em&gt;, Hardwick considered retirement last offseason before deciding 2014 would be his final season as he continued to deal with numbing and spinal issues.\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Nerves were getting compressed through various forms,\" Hardwick said. \"My hands were going numb during training camp for weeks at a time. I was losing feeling in my fingers up through my elbows. I was having a bunch of stingers. On a daily basis, my hands were asleep, my elbows were burning, and I was losing a normalcy to life. It became reckless to continue playing. ...\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Physically, I'm not beating my head against a wall for a living, and that's a relief.\"\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;\u2022 Super Bowl XLIX was most watched television program in U.S. history&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A former walk-on at Purdue, Hardwick was drafted in the third round of the 2004 draft.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Chargers finished 9-7 in 2014, missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;-&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Mike Fiammetta&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/02/02/san-diego-chargers-nick-hardwick-retiring>