Jim Trotter, the former NFL media reporter who sued the league for retaliation, has announced his retirement.

Trotter made the announcement on his BlueSky account, saying, ‘No better way to spend the first full day of retirement.’

Across his lengthy journalism career – which dates back to 1989 – Trotter was known for asking serious questions and addressing serious issues within the game.

That included arguably his most famous interaction in 2023 when Trotter – who was employed by NFL Media – asked commissioner Roger Goodell about the lack of diversity within his own newsroom at a pre-Super Bowl press conference.

Trotter then had his contract lapse about six weeks after he asked that question.

That led to the reporter filing a lawsuit alleging the league racially discriminated against him and retaliated against him for asking that question.

Former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter appears to have announced his retirement

Trotter asked commissioner Roger Goodell about the racial makeup of the NFL newsroom. He then filed a suit against the league alleging racial discrimination when his contract lapsed.

Read More Emmanuel Acho shares horrifying clip of Los Angeles fires as Fox Sports host flees his home

In the suit, Trotter claimed his contract wasn’t renewed because of the question he asked – and that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula made racial comments to him, which he was told not to report on. 

Trotter announced months ago that he had reached a settlement with the NFL putting an end to his suit. The NFL denied Trotter’s accusations.

Trotter began his sports media career in 1989 with the San Diego Tribune-Union. In addition to the NFL Network, he spent time with ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and most recently with The Athletic.

The last piece he published for the outlet came back on December 6 and was a column about San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa crashing a post-game interview while wearing a hat supporting Donald Trump.

Trotter went public saying that the site’s editors had ‘watered-down’ that column, adding, ‘I was not allowed to properly, IMO, contextualize the significance and consequence of the moment because, I was told, I’d be in violation of the [New York Times’] journalistic standards regarding sports and political.’

He then clarified that the directive was handed down by The Athletic and not the New York Times (the sports outlet’s parent company).