Quebec’s Antony Auclair announces retirement from professional football

Antony Auclair is calling it a career.

The Canadian-born tight end announced Wednesday he is retiring from pro football. Auclair, 30, will make it official Thursday at Laval University’s Sports and Physical Education Complex.

Auclair played collegiately at Laval and signed as an undrafted free agent with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2017. Not long after, he was taken in the fourth round, No. 30 overall, in the 2017 CFL draft by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The six-foot-five, 256-pound tight end from Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que., cracked Tampa Bay’s opening-day roster. That made Auclair the first player in Laval’s rich football history to make an NFL squad.

Tampa Bay defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV. Auclair, who was known more for his blocking ability than as a receiver, was inactive for the game but still earned a championship ring.

That made Auclair the first player to win both a Vanier Cup and the Lombardi Trophy, presented annually to the NFL’s top team.

He also became just the third U Sports player to win the Super Bowl after McGill guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (with Kansas City in 2019) and Regina punter Jon Ryan (with Seattle in 2014).

Auclair spent four seasons with Tampa Bay before joining the Houston Texans in 2021. The Tennessee Titans added Auclair to their practice squad in October 2022 but he was released Nov. 21.

Auclair appeared in 56 career NFL games, registering 15 catches for 131 yards and a TD.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Jan. 31, 2024.