Apr 9, 2015 3 min read

The end of an era in Steelers football has come.

Per SteelCityInsider.net, All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu called team chairman Dan Rooney Wednesday night and informed him that he is retiring from football after 12 seasons, all with the Steelers.

A first-round draft pick of Pittsburgh in 2003, Polamalu, 33, was an eight-time Pro Bowl player and first-team All-Pro four times. He appeared in three Super Bowls with the Steelers, winning twice, and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2000s.

Polamalu was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, when he matched his career high with seven interceptions.

But his play slipped noticeably in 2014, recording 61 tackles and one forced fumble in 14 games while failing to record an interception.

The Steelers asked Polamalu to retire in February, but he spent the past two months deciding whether he wanted to or play elsewhere in 2015.

“I did not seriously consider playing elsewhere,” Polamalu told SteelCityInsider.net. “It was just whether or not I wanted to play. I had talked to a lot of people about what I should do with my situation, and what they kept saying back to me, and which was not a sufficient reason, was ‘Troy, you played 12 years in the NFL, you won Super Bowls, won individual awards. There’s nothing left to prove. You have a legacy.’ And I just kept saying, ‘First of all, I don’t care about a legacy. Second of all, I play the game because I enjoy it.’ That’s the reason to keep playing.”

Polamalu walks away from a contract that would have paid him $6 million in 2015.

“It’s about family,” Polamalu told SteelCityInsider.net. “I live here in Pittsburgh now, and since the end of the season, I’ve had a chance to enjoy my family on a level I never had before. It was awesome.”

Polamalu finishes his career with 32 interceptions, seventh on the team’s all-time list, 12 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.

The Steelers are expected to move third-year safety Shamarko Thomas into the starting lineup to replace Polamalu, who took Thomas under his wing in 2014 at the behest of the younger player.

He feels the Steelers, who are coming off an 11-5 season and won the AFC North for the first time since 2010, are headed in the right direction.

“Part of the reason I wanted to come back was they’re talented,” Polamalu told SteelCityInsider.net. “They’re really talented. I think it’s an exciting time to be a Steeler, but man, there have been years where I thought we weren’t going to be very good and we were great, and there were years that I thought we were going to be great and we weren’t very good. You just never know.”

Polamalu’s retirement leaves only quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, tight end Heath Miller, linebacker James Harrison and long snapper Greg Warren as the remaining Steelers who played on all three of the team’s recent Super Bowl teams.