Trente Jones Has Retired After Being Signed by the Green Bay Packers

After winning a National Championship as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, Trente Jones has retired from the sport of football. The offensive lineman was integral to the success of the program, one of the reasons the team won the Joe Moore awards in 2021 and 2022 (it goes to the best college offensive line in the sport) and helped the team go 15-0 in 2023.

The undrafted rookie offensive lineman was on the Green Bay Packers, recently completing rookie minicamp, when the organization placed him on their reserve/retired list on May 13, 2024. What happened to him? Will he play in the NFL?

While the initial reports of Trente no longer being on the team led some to think it was due to mental health, the athlete made it clear why he won’t be sporting Packers green and gold this fall. In a YouTube video he uploaded late on the day his retirement was revealed, Trente explained why he retired from the sport.

The retirement video begins, "I'll say to start off honestly, I didn't really know this was going to be my, you know, the turning point of my career but I did injure my back. It's one of those things where it's like, you either make the decision to keep pushing and possibly get cut and also hurt your back or you could try to do this try to do that and you know try to push through it but end up messing up your back forever or none of those things happen to you play for 10-15 years."

But Trente doesn't exactly shut the door on pro football. "There could also be the situation where you leave, get your back better, come back and fix your back and then come back and then play another 10-15 years. I made the decision to leave football. It's kind of like a medical retirement but it is also a situation where I could in theory come back to football at some point.”

According to Over the Cap, Trente signed with Green Bay for $2,840,000 for 3 years. $110,000 of that was guaranteed. Based on Sports Illustrated's reading of the contract, he won't get to keep that money.

Clicked On Detroit notes that if Trente chooses to return to the NFL once his back is healed, the Packers will have the right to sign him.

Based on his social media feeds, Trente may not ever want to play IRL sports again. His Instagram bio reads, “Digital creator, Dryworld Athlete 🔆, OL for the Packers 🧀” He has 74.7K followers on that platform and is an aspiring gamer. For someone who is no longer doing what they’re known for due to back issues, maybe a career in a comfy chair playing Madden is better than being a character in Madden. Maybe there's a reason Trente put "digital creator" ahead of "OL for the Packers."