Mitchell will retire with the Redskins
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) – Brian Mitchell, one of the NFL’s top return men and holder of nine league records, will sign a one-day contract next week so that he can retire with the Washington Redskins. Mitchell will reunite with coach Joe Gibbs for the ceremony Wednesday at Redskins Park. Mitchell was on the team Gibbs coached to the Super Bowl title after the 1991 season.
Mitchell, 37, was a fifth-round pick in 1990 and spent 10 seasons with the Redskins.
Mitchell said he has put behind him the animosity he’s had toward big-spending Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who cut him five years ago to make room for an aging Deion Sanders.
“I started here. I played 10 years here. My home is here. I never wanted to leave Washington. I wanted to retire as a Redskin way back,” Mitchell told WTEM-AM radio. “Things changed. I left upset and with an attitude, but you get over things, and I made a phone call to Dan Snyder and expressed what I wanted to do, and he agreed with it.”
Mitchell holds NFL records for combined kick return yards (19,013), combined kick returns (1,070), combined kick returns for a touchdown (13), kickoff return yards (14,014), kickoff returns (607), punt return yards (4,999), punt returns (463) and fair catches (231). He was also the leader in all-purpose yards (23,330) until Jerry Rice (23,546) passed him in December.