KAILUA-KONA — The most accomplished football player to come out of the Big Island is calling it a career.
Two people familiar with the decision say New Orleans Saints Pro Bowl center and offensive captain Max Unger is retiring after 10 NFL seasons.
The 32-year-old Unger — a Hawaii Preparatory graduate — has been New Orleans’ starting center for the past four seasons after spending his first six NFL seasons out of Oregon with Seattle.
The 6-foot-5, 305-pound Hawaii native was an AP All-Pro in 2012 and has been to the Pro Bowl three times, in 2012, 2013 and 2018.
Unger was entering the final season of his three-year, $22.2 million contract.
Unger was drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft by Seattle, winning the Super Bowl with the Seahawks in 2014.
Following the Super Bowl win, Unger’s jersey was retired at HPA and former Mayor Billy Kenoi proclaimed April 2 as “Super Bowl Champion Max Unger Day” in Hawaii County.
He was acquired by New Orleans from Seattle in a trade for tight end Jimmy Graham after the 2013 season.
True to his Kona roots, Unger was an ironman during his time with the Saints. He played 63 of 64 possible regular season games and was in on more than 96 percent of the offensive snaps in each of those seasons.
“Max has been as good as I ever could have imagined,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees told ESPN in 2016. “Not only just his production, but his leadership ability and his toughness and the presence he brings to the locker room.”
While Unger had his share of postseason success, winning the Super Bowl with Seattle in 2014, he has been on the wrong end of three of the most crushing postseason losses.
The first came in 2015, when the Seahawks decided to pass the ball at the goal line instead of handing it off to Marshawn Lynch to run between his big center and guard. The pass was intercepted with less than 30 seconds left and the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl.
“I think I’ve blocked that out,” Unger said of the play in a previous interview with the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, “it seems a long time ago.”
He also tasted heartbreak with the Saints, watching the Vikings execute the “Minneapolis Miracle” — a 61-yard touchdown catch by Stefon Diggs as time expired in the NFC Divisional Round playoff game in 2018.
It happened again this season in the NFC Championship, when a blatant pass interference call on the Rams was missed, aiding L.A. in punching its ticket to the Super Bowl.
Unger headlines a small group of Big Islanders to make it to the NFL.
Others include the late Daniel Te’o-Nesheim — another Ka Makani alum — who was taken in the third round by the Eagles in 2010, and Kealakehe’s Jesse Mahelona, who was picked with the 169th overall pick in 2006. Mahelona died in 2009 in an automobile accident.
Former Kamehameha-Hawaii and University of Hawaii standout Mana Silva went undrafted, but saw time on the field as a defensive back with the Cowboys and Bills from 2011-12.
Tani Tupou has spent time with the Seahawks and Falcons, and is currently playing defensive tackle for the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football league. He never played a snap for the Waveriders, but graduated from the West Hawaii school in 2011.
Linebacker Manase Hungalu, a Kealakehe grad, saw time in training camp with Jacksonville and Cleveland last season.
Wide receiver John Ursua, a Big Island native and former University of Hawaii standout, is expected to be a mid-to-late round pick in this year’s draft.
Matt Blair — a linebacker in the ‘70s and ‘80s with Minnesota — and Trevor Hutton — who played in four games with the Colts at guard in 2004 — were born in Hilo, but played prep ball out of state.
