BANNER MAKES NFL RETIREMENT OFFICIAL

By Patrick Lujan

Guam son Zach Banner has made it official. After four years of attempting to make it back into the NFL, Banner officially announced his retirement on his Instagram earlier today.

“This is that announcement that every professional athlete hates to make,” Banner started his message. “You try your hardest to perform at a high level as long as you can and you work so many hours and days on and off the field to chase your dreams and goals.”

Banner proudly represented Guam throughout his career, catching the eye of Guam fans during his All-American career at USC from 2013-2016 where he was known to drape the Guam flag around his shoulders after a Trojans win.

He’d get drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the 4th round of the 2017 NFL draft.

On the 4th of July of 2017, he made his much anticipated return to Guam.

Banner hosted a Football Festival at the Guam High football field and gym, attracting all the youth football teams on Guam. (see photo gallery here)

Upon his return to Indianapolis later that summer, he would be unexpectedly waived by the Colts, but he would be picked up by the Cleveland Browns the next day.

That’s where he would learn from Hall of Famer Joe Thomas and get his first professional action in.

Zach would return for another round of football clinics on island for players and coaches in February 2018, this time bringing along teammate and buddy Larry Oganjobi.

VIDEOS OF CLEVELAND BROWNS TEAMMATES ON GUAM

After his 2nd visit to Guam, he’d get cut by the Browns just a month later. His best years would come after signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers later in 2018.

Banner and Oganjobi would come back one last time in February 2020 for another youth football camp at FD as part of Banner’s B3 Foundation.

The pair would depart the island just in the nick of time before the world was shut down because of COVID.

Working within the Steelers system, Banner would work his way up to a starting tackle position at the start of the 2020 season.

After an impressive night to open the 2020 season at right tackle in Week 1 where his offensive line stats were just about perfect, he suffered a season-ending ACL tear. That would eventually trickle to be the cause of the end of his career.

“I want to thank my family and friends, the city of Tacoma, the island of Guam, Lakes High School, the University of California and all the amazing people I worked with in the National Football League, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers and the city of Pittsburgh.”

The 32-year-old retires as a Steeler and looks forward to a career in broadcasting. Wife Alex is a lead writer with CNN. They have a soon-to-be one year old son Noah.