Although the timing is likely just a coincidence, two great pass catchers in the NFL’s history called it a career this week in the dead of the NFL’s offseason. Both Isaac Bruce and Muhsin Muhammad announced their intentions to hang up the pads which really should come as no surprise to fans around the league. Each had decorated careers and was incredibly difficult to contain during the height of their careers, but at 37 years old, both had clearly lost a step in recent years and their respective organizations were ready to turn the page to a new chapter.

For Bruce, his 16 NFL seasons were each impressive in their own right after he broke into the league in 1994 with a Rams team that was still in Los Angeles for one season before their made the move to St. Louis. His career saw the resurrection of a once proud franchise from the NFL’s basement and losing seasons in his first five years with the club until the “Greatest Show on Turf” took over and the Rams went to the Super Bowl in 1999. In what is to this date still considered one of the more dramatic conclusions in big game history, many forget that Bruce was the guy who actually hauled in the go-ahead score from Kurt Warner in the final two minutes of that game. Many believe that Bruce is a borderline Hall of Fame player with a remarkable 15,208 receiving yards ranking second in league history, a 14.9 yards per reception average which ranks second as well, 1,024 catches putting him fifth in that category, and 91 touchdown grabs which is ninth all-time. Bruce spent his last two years with the San Francisco 49ers, but in a great gesture, the Niners allowed the St. Louis Rams to acquire Bruce for a one-day contract so that he could retire as a Ram.

Muhammad had quite an attitude when he first arrived in the NFL with the start-up Carolina Panthers franchise, but he quickly matured with a young Panthers team during his 14 years in the league. Although he spent three short years with the Chicago Bears toward the end of his career from 2004-2007, Muhammad returned to the Panthers in 2008 and reunited with teammate and good friend Steve Smith. His career numbers aren’t nearly as impressive as Bruce’s with 696 catches scoring 50 touchdowns and accumulating 9,255 yards, but in his prime he was definitely a player that had to be gameplanned for. His big frame and basketball box out mentality made him the ideal red zone threat on jump ball opportunities. Although Muhammad’s numbers fall short of Hall of Fame criteria, he certainly made an impression on Panthers fans and left the organization and its fans with a wealth of good memories.

Both of these players may have been capable of hanging on for another two or three years putting up mediocre numbers in lackluster roles, but that wouldn’t have been fitting for their impressive careers. The combined 30 years of NFL experience between these two players and nearly 25,000 receiving yards is mind boggling and it is quite ironic that less than 24 hours separated their retirement speeches. It may be cheesy sometimes when a player signs a one-day contract just to retire with a certain team, but in the case of these two players, Bruce will forever be a Ram and Muhammad a Panther.

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