Patriots' Matthew Slater: Ends storied special-teams career

Slater announced Tuesday that he has retired from professional football.

Slater, 38, is calling it a career after 16 seasons in the NFL, all of which were spent with New England as a core contributor on the Patriots' special-teams units. The 2008 fifth-round pick retires with three Super Bowl rings, five first-team All-Pro nods, and 10 Pro Bowl honors under his belt. Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick recently referred to Slater as the best special-teams player in NFL history, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, saying he was glad to have coached the greatest players in all three phases of the game, the others being Tom Brady on offense and Lawrence Taylor on defense.