Ravens offensive guard Marshal Yanda retires at age 35

Marshal Yanda (Google Images)

Baltimore Ravens offensive guard Marshal Yanda announced his retirement from the National Football League on Tuesday according to Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz of USA Today . Yanda, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had played the last 13 seasons with the Ravens and had been to eight Pro Bowls (six consecutive Pro Bowls from 2011 to 2016 and again in 2018 and 2019).

In fact, according to the Associated Press, Yanda is one of three NFL guards to play in eight Pro Bowls and win the Super Bowl. The others are former Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers guard Larry Allen of Los Angeles, California and former Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets guard Alan Faneca of New Orleans, Louisiana.

While playing in a position that is rather difficult to judge personal achievement because there are limited statistics, Yanda did however have eight offensive fumble recoveries in his career. Two came in the 2008 NFL regular season when Yanda only played five games and two more came in 2013 NFL regular season. The others came in 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Yanda played 177 games for the Ravens, of which he started 166 of them. After a college football career at North Iowa Area Community College and then the University of Iowa, Yanda was the Ravens’ third overall pick, 86th overall, in the 2007 NFL Draft.

A first-team All-Pro in 2014 and again in 2015, Yanda was part of the Ravens squad that won Super Bowl XXXVI in 2013. The Ravens won the game by a score of 34-31 over the San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game is best known for a power outage that stopped play for 34 minutes of the third quarter and the fact that brothers were coaching against each other. Jim Harbaugh was the head coach for the 49ers and John Harbaugh was the head coach for the Ravens.