Former UGA Football WR Chris Conley Announces NFL Retirement | Return to UGA
ATHENS - Former UGA Football WR Chris Conley announced on social media Saturday that he was retiring from the NFL. He is set to return to UGA to enroll in film school, his agent told the NFL Network.
The move concludes a ten-year career in the NFL after playing with the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
"When I was a kid I wrote down a set of goals,” Conley posted. “On that list was 'Play 10 years in the NFL.' Now that this goal has been accomplished, it's time to set sights on something new.”
In his ten seasons in the NFL, Conley had 226 catches for 2,998 yards with 15 touchdowns. He started 65 of the 132 games that he played in. His best season came in Jacksonville with 775 yards and five touchdowns on 47 receptions.
"The past 10 years have been a dream," Conley wrote. "Getting the opportunity to play in the league was an honor and whether it was catching touchdowns or blocking for them. I truly gave it my all.”
Film has long been an interest of Conley’s. He created a 26-minute Star Wars fan film going into his senior season at UGA called Retribution: Darkness Falls.
A wide receiver for UGA Football from 2011 to 2014, Conley was the program’s leading receiver in 2014. He had 657 yards and eight touchdowns on 36 catches. He was picked in the third round by Kansas City in 2015 with the 76th overall pick.
His most notable catch was likely his most unfortunate one. With UGA down 32-28, Conley made the final catch of the game against Alabama in the 2012 SEC Championship Game. The ball was tipped by an Alabama defender before Conley caught it and slipped to the ground with six seconds left. The Bulldogs were out of timeouts.
"I lost it and it was right there in front of me, and instinctively I grabbed it," Conley told the Red and Black after the game. "I probably should have let it go. I know now that the ball wasn't meant for me, that it was tipped.”
The final six seconds dripped off the clock as Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrated the dramatic win over the Bulldogs to all but capture the 2012 national title.
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