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Sam Hubbard was born and raised in Cincinnati, making him a perfect fit for the Bengals. Now the veteran defensive end is ending his NFL career where it started, announcing Wednesday that he’s retiring at the age of 29 after seven NFL seasons — all of them spent with the Bengals.

“As a kid growing up in Southwest Ohio, Cincinnati has always been, and will always be, home to my family and me,” Hubbard wrote on social media. “I bled orange and black before I ever put on a Bengals jersey. … In my heart, I know that I gave this game, this team and this city everything that I had. That is why today, with great pride, I am announcing that I am moving on … and entering the next chapter of my life.”

“I want to send a sincere thank you to my teammates, coaches, trainers, support staff, Bengals ownership, and the NFL for everything you all have done for me,” Hubbard continued. “I could not have done any of this alone. To the fans — Who Dey Nation — I thank you the most; you inspired me. From the years of struggle and adversity to Super Bowl LVI, you never stopped believing. I hope I made you proud. To play my entire career in one uniform is incredibly special to me, and I am a Bengal for life.”

Hubbard, who attended Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati before playing college football at Ohio State, joined the Bengals as a third-round draft pick in 2018. He went on to play 104 regular-season games with the club, making 88 consecutive starts from 2019-2024, while racking up 38.5 career sacks, 16 pass deflections and six forced fumbles.

Hubbard is perhaps best known locally for his historic playoff performance at the end of the Bengals’ 2022 season, one year after Cincinnati advanced to the Super Bowl. During a wild-card matchup with the rival Baltimore Ravens, the pass rusher scooped up a goal-line fumble by Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown — the longest postseason score in franchise history, memorialized among Bengals fans as the “Fumble in the Jungle.”