LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. – The Washington Redskins announced today that former Redskins defensive end Stephen Bowen has retired from the NFL.
Bowen appeared in 128 career regular season games with 57 starts, accruing 175 career tackles (103 solo, 25 for loss), 12.5 sacks, nine passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He spent four seasons with the Redskins from 2011-14 and served as a team captain on the Redskins' 2012 NFC East championship squad.
In his first season in Washington in 2011, Bowen's teammates voted him as the recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award. That year, he recorded a career-high 6.0 sacks despite facing tremendous personal tragedy that included the passing of his four-month-premature son, Skyler Bowen, and his mother-in-law, Muriel Johnson.
The hardship endured by the Bowen family motivated them to start the Skyler's Gift Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing hope and healing to grieving families who have lost children as the result of complications from premature birth.
Bowen, a veteran of 10 NFL seasons, originally entered the league as a college free agent with the Dallas Cowboys on May 1, 2006. He spent his first five seasons with Dallas from 2006-10, appearing in 63 regular season games plus three postseason contests for the Cowboys. He signed with the Redskins as an unrestricted free agent on July 29, 2011, and appeared in 50 regular season games and one postseason game with Washington, including starting all 16 games during both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. He joined the New York Jets as a free agent in 2015 and appeared in 15 games for the team during his final NFL campaign.
Bowen played collegiately at Hofstra from 2002-05. He was a three-year starter for the Pride, finishing his career with 168 tackles, 14.5 sacks and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown.
A native of Wheatley Heights, N.Y., Bowen was born March 28, 1984. He attended Half Hollow Hills West H.S. in Dix Hills, N.Y., where he was a standout performer in both football and basketball.
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