Former Cowboys player shockingly retires as new team reported to training camp

Months after being released by the Dallas Cowboys, wide receiver Michael Gallup is retiring from the NFL.

The news is surprising considering he's 28 years old and had signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on a one-year deal. The Raiders placed him on the reserve/retired list on Tuesday, the day the team reported to training camp.

However, Gallup's retirement can largely be attributed to a season-ending injury suffered in 2022 from which he never fully came back from.

Although the Cowboys have often been criticized for moving on from Amari Cooper and later signing Gallup to a very expensive contract extension, the latter had a positive start in Dallas, going for 1,107 yards in 2019 and 843 in 2020.

After tearing his ACL in January of 2022, Gallup struggled to be the same as before even after re-taking the field, with his route running taking a hit and him becoming much less of a 50-50 ball threat, one of his biggest calling cards as a true X-receiver on the Cowboys offense.

Unfortunately, Gallup is now a reminder that ACL injury can still prove to be career-altering situation even in an age where most players are able to recover completely from them.

The Cowboys cut Gallup in March in a move that opened $9.5M on the salary cap space in 2023. In six years in Dallas since being drafted in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the former Colorado State wideout accumulated 266 career catches with 3,744 yards, and 21 touchdowns in 86 games played.

Related: Cowboys Nation might be getting the Trey Lance narrative all wrong ahead of 2024 NFL season