MKRob Sports

Cleveland Browns running back Jamal Lewis plans to retire at the end of the season.

Lewis told reporters after the Browns’ 30-6 loss Sunday at Chicago that his 10th season will be his final one, adding, “When I talk, I mean what I say and I think you all know that.”

Lewis, the fifth overall pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, will finish his career with over 10,000 rushing and was a major contributor in the Ravens Super Bowl win as a rookie. He spent seven years with the Ravens.

He served prison time while with them in 2005 for using a cell phone to set up a drug buy five years earlier, and besides the off-the-field issues, there were questions about his durability and speed when he signed with Cleveland before the 2007 season.

Lewis answered those by running for 1,304 yards that year, his best since leading the NFL with 2,066 in 2003. He followed that by going for 1,002 last season, the seventh time he reached the 1,000-yard mark.

“It is very hard,” he said. “Very. I think this is my last year. I think this is it. Honestly, the way it looks, you know, I had a good run.”

Lewis acknowledges that finishing with the Browns after a terrible season is not the easiest way to go out.

“But at the same time, I stuck my neck out and wanted to come in and help and do what I could do, even though I knew the consequences,” he said. “I knew what we had and what was going to go with it, being that you do have new people coming in, new coaches, new staff, and all that — there’s a lot that comes with that.”