A former Ohio State Buckeye is retiring from the NFL after 12 seasons in the league. Defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, better known as "Big Hank," is calling it a career.
Hankins earned a starting spot in the trenches by his sophomore year at OSU. The space eater tallied 67 tackles with 11 tackles for loss and three sacks. In his junior season, Hankins totaled 55 tackles with four tackles for loss and one sack. He would enter the NFL draft and become a second-round pick of the New York Giants.
Over the course of the next 12 years, Hankins would play with a total of five different teams, including the Colts, Raiders, Cowboys, and Seahawks. He racked up 433 tackles with 44 tackles for loss, 18.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries,
and 13 pass breakups in 169 games. He finished his career with Seattle, although he would miss the entire 2025 season due to a back injury. After being waived in December, Big Hank decided to hang it up for good.
Hankins earned All-Big Ten and All-American honors while wearing the Scarlet and Gray.
Veteran DT Johnathan Hankins tells me he is retiring from the NFL after 12 seasons.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 30, 2026
An outstanding career for the former 2nd-round pick out of Ohio State, who was drafted by the Giants and also played for the Colts, Raiders, Cowboys, and Seahawks. Hankins appeared in 169 career… pic.twitter.com/rrmgaaSAjx
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Former Ohio State star retires after 12 NFL seasons
