Bucs lose QB as Plummer keeps word, retires

His next move could be the Peace Corps. Or a turn as a mountain man. Perhaps Jake Plummer's next sport will be handball.

Whatever he does next, and rumors have started about that, it won't be football.

So wrote Plummer on his website after his trade from the Denver Broncos to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was announced Saturday.

"Football has been awesome to me in many ways," he wrote. "I leave the game with my health and happiness, and look forward to the future."

Plummer's mother, Marilyn, told the Denver Post on Sunday her son will retire rather than come to Tampa Bay and compete with Chris Simms and now Jeff Garcia for the starting quarterback job.

She said Plummer had contemplated retirement as soon as the 2006 season ended. It was a tumultuous year for Plummer, the 10-year vet who took the Broncos to the AFC title game in 2005. He got off to a good start, then started throwing interceptions and eventually lost his job to rookie Jay Cutler, who started the final five games.

Marilyn Plummer told the Post her son had a "rebel spirit" similar to that of his former teammate with the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman, who walked away from a $3.6 million contract and joined the Army. Tillman was killed while serving in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004 by friendly fire.

Plummer had three years left on his contract with the Broncos. He was due to make $5.3 million next season and more than $15 million over the final three years.

The Bucs and Broncos apparently agreed to most terms of a contract Friday when word leaked Plummer had no interest in competing with Simms for the starting job. His brother told reporters in Denver he didn't want to enter a situation similar to the one he would be leaving.

Bucs general manager Bruce Allen went ahead with the trade Saturday. The thought was the Bucs, who sent Denver a conditional fourth-round pick in 2008, would then trade Plummer, but Allen said that wasn't his intent.

"I would not have acquired him just to trade him," Allen said.

The Bucs hold Plummer's rights for the next three seasons, and his salary will not count against their salary cap if Plummer decides not to play or officially retires.

Marilyn Plummer said her son's next move might be something totally unexpected. He might spend time in the mountains. One Internet report has Plummer considering joining the Peace Corps.