Former Philadelphia Eagles captain Chris Maragos calls it a career

Former Philadelphia Eagles captain Chris Maragos calls it a career via his Twitter account. Try to fight the tears back as you read the letter.

Former Philadelphia Eagles team captain Chris Maragos officially called it a career on Tuesday, June 16th, and with that decision, a quiet day turned into an emotional one. After penning a farewell letter that he posted to his Twitter account a little before dinner time, friends and former teammates took to their own accounts to wish him well.

This was somewhat expected as he’s set to undergo surgery for the third time in two years. Thinking of him makes the strongest or most serious Eagles fan smile. Why? Well, think of it like this.

There are three types of professional athletes. There are guys who just naturally have gifts that other professional athletes don’t or have to work to acquire. Sometimes, they work to enhance those gifts. Sometimes, they just coast and rely on the fact that they’re just naturally more gifted than others.

Then, there are guys who possess those same physical gifts and are also the hardest workers on the team. Those guys are rare. That’s when you find the guys like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice. If you find yourself on their team, you better work hard because they will.

Then, there’s another group. They’re the guys who didn’t possess those rare natural gifts, but they became great because they worked harder than the next person to prove that they belonged. That’s where you find a Chris Maragos. That’s why every Eagles fan loves Chris Maragos.

That’s why it becomes almost impossible to fight back tears when you see something like his farewell letter. Take a look at this one.

Tones of friends and former teammates showed their love almost immediately. Here are some of the highlights.

We at ITI salute you Mr. Maragos. Thank you for all that you’ve done. Rest up. Get well soon. We’ll all be pulling for you.