Jon Feliciano is calling it a career after the veteran offensive lineman missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing knee surgery. The former 49ers guard is retiring because he can no longer physically withstand the rigors of playing an entire NFL season.
Feliciano is retiring, but he would return for the 2025 playoffs if two of his former teams — the Bills or 49ers — come calling. In fact, Feliciano encouraged them to do just that.
“The fire is still there, but I know I can’t last a full season and can’t bring myself to let people down,” Feliciano wrote in his retirement post. “Being on a team and unable to help out your boys is rough. That being said, Buffalo or SF, I’ll be ready for a playoff run in December if you need me.”
A Florida native, Feliciano played collegiately at Miami before the Raiders selected him in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Feliciano received eight starts in four years in Oakland before he joined the Bills in 2019. He stated in each of Buffalo’s games that season while helping the Bills make the playoffs. That season was also Josh Allen’s first full year as Buffalo’s starting quarterback.
Despite missing nearly half of the 2020 season with an injury, Feliciano received Pro Bowl consideration for a second straight season and was also the Bills’ Ed Block Courage Award recipient. He signed a three-year extension with the team the following offseason but was released by the Bills in 2022 after another injury-plagued campaign.
Just five days after being released, Feliciano signed with the Giants and made 15 starts during the 2022 regular season. He made an additional two starts in the playoffs while helping New York win its first playoff game since winning Super Bowl XLVI.
In 2023, Feliciano signed a one-year contract with the 49ers, his fourth and final NFL team. After making seven regular season starts, Feliciano started in each of San Francisco’s three playoff games that included its 25-22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.
“To my teammates, I hope I did you justice,” Feliciano wrote in his retirement post. “I gave you everything I had.”
