{"id":45729,"date":"2025-05-03T02:09:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45729"},"modified":"2025-05-03T02:09:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:09:50","slug":"former-steelers-lb-announces-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45729","title":{"rendered":"Former Steelers LB Announces Retirement.."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DCT180909134_PIT_at_CLE.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker L.J. Fort revealed on Instagram that he\u2019s officially retiring after a 10-year career in the NFL. Fort has been out of football the last three seasons, last playing with the Baltimore Ravens in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t get picked up until Thursday after the draft, preparing to start another career. All I needed was an opportunity and I\u2019m forever thankful to the ones who gave me just that! Never could have imagined 10 years in the game!\u201d Fort wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you to all my family, friends, teammates, agent, trainers, staff, and organizations who helped me turn my childhood dream into a reality! It doesn\u2019t matter how you start, ignore the circumstances and get to work!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several former Steelers commented on Fort\u2019s post. Current Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen also replied, the two crossed paths in Baltimore.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"iframe-container\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DJIXJGpPzn1\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=500&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fsteelersnow.com&amp;rp=%2Fformer-steelers-lb-announces-retirement%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1039.5999999996275%7D\" height=\"1008\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Fort played for eight different teams over his career, but his\u00a0longest tenure\u00a0was a four-year stint with Pittsburgh from 2015 to 2018.\u00a0Fort, 31, posted 63 total tackles, five tackles-for-loss, two tackles and a scoop-and-score while with the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>Fort initially signed with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Fort finished his career with 173 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups, five sacks, one forced fumble and one interception. He played in 91 career games and started 19.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Fort was named the\u00a0linebackers coach\u00a0at Melissa High School in Texas.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large mobile-image-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19432\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; user-select: initial !important; max-width: 100%; height: auto; vertical-align: bottom; border-style: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020-788x566.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=566,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg 788w, https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=428,height=307,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg 428w, https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=500,height=359,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg 500w, https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=768,height=552,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"788\" height=\"566\" data-attachment-id=\"19432\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/ravens-lb-l-j-fort-suffers-significant-knee-injury\/1200px-l-j-_fort_2020\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=1200,height=862,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1200,862\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"1200px-L.J._Fort_2020\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;www.allproreels@gmail.com \u2014 from the Washington Football Team vs. Baltimore Ravens at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. October 4, 2020 (All-Pro Reels Photography)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=1180,height=848,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-L.J._Fort_2020.jpg\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">www.allproreels@gmail.com\u00a0\u2014 from the Washington Football Team vs. Baltimore Ravens at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. October 4, 2020 (All-Pro Reels Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker L.J. Fort revealed on Instagram that he\u2019s officially retiring after a 10-year career in the NFL. Fort has been out of football the&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Steelers LB Announces Retirement.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45729\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Steelers LB Announces Retirement.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker L.J. 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