Former Broncos Super Bowl Champion Announces Retirement After Tragic Death of 2-Year-Old Daughter
Denver, CO – December 3, 2025
A beloved former Denver Broncos Super Bowl champion has officially walked away from the NFL for good, closing the final chapter of an extraordinary yet heartbreaking football journey. Linebacker
Barrett, now 33, revealed that the devastating loss of his 2-year-old daughter, Arrayah, who drowned in the family pool in April 2023, has permanently changed his outlook on life. “It hurts every day,”
Although he briefly returned to the Buccaneers late in the 2024 season and even worked out for the Colts in October 2025, Barrett said he no longer feels right continuing a career that demands so much time away from home.
Barrett confessed that his comeback last year felt like he was “cheating the system,” receiving rewards without fully putting in the grind he once embraced. Injuries and grief compounded the emotional toll, giving him what he described as a “new perspective on life.”
The birth of his sixth child this summer further cemented his decision. Barrett and his wife, Jordanna, are now preparing to move back to Colorado, where he hopes to focus on raising his children and potentially explore coaching or mentorship roles.
“Since I have all this time on my hands now… I want to put it into raising the best kids I possibly can,” Barrett said.
An undrafted free agent who became a two-time Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowler, Barrett’s career stands as one of the NFL’s greatest late-bloomer success stories. Now, he steps into retirement determined to dedicate the rest of his life to the people who mean the most: his family.
Former Bills First-Round Pick Signs One-Day Contract to Retire at 34
Buffalo fans have seen countless players wear the red, white, and blue, but some leave a mark so deep that their return feels like the closing of a cherished family story.
On a quiet afternoon at Highmark Stadium, a small signing ceremony carried the weight of an entire career. It wasn’t about the future — it was about honoring a past that shaped a legacy.
This former first-round pick was the heart of Buffalo’s secondary for half a decade, matching up against the league’s most dangerous receivers and leaving behind numbers and moments etched into Bills history.
"Once a Bill, always a Bill. This city made me, this team shaped me, and this family gave me everything. I retire in Buffalo because my heart never left," Stephon Gilmore said.
Drafted 10th overall in 2012 out of South Carolina, the 6’1” cornerback played 68 games in Buffalo, starting 66, recording 14 interceptions, 56 pass deflections, and a pick-six that remains a fan favorite.
His 2016 season was his masterpiece — five interceptions, a Pro Bowl nod, and a key role in pushing Buffalo’s pass defense into the league’s top ten, a rare feat for the franchise that year.
After leaving in 2017, Gilmore won a Super Bowl, earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors, and became one of the league’s most respected shutdown corners, but his ties to Bills Mafia never loosened.
At 34, his one-day contract is more than a formality — it’s a statement of love, loyalty, and gratitude to the city and fanbase that first believed in him. Buffalo will forever be home.
