NFL

Former Giants LB Pierce mulled NFL comeback

Antonio Pierce admitted “that itch was there.” But in the end, he decided his retirement from football was official.

“It was time to move on, man,” Pierce, the former Giants defensive captain and current ESPN analyst, told The Post yesterday. “I had a good career. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to end, on my own terms, but I can’t knock my career and I can’t risk going out there and hurting myself even though I was cleared to play.”

Pierce, 32, started the first nine games in 2009 before some pain in his neck during practice forced him to the sideline. He never, ever envisioned it would end his career.

“There’s a lot of things that shock me in my life, but that’s one thing that shocked me more than anything else,” he said.

He was diagnosed with a herniated disk and hoped rest would calm down the problem. He didn’t play again that season and opted to retire.

In November, an MRI revealed the disk was fully healed and he received medical clearance to resume playing.

Rams coach Steve Spagnulo, Pierce’s defensive coordinator with the Giants, was interested. So was Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

“It crossed my mind but would it have happened, I don’t know,” said Pierce, who is 32. “I feel good, been cleared for a while but I’m not even going to try it, as much as that itch was there. Do I look at two months, one year or do I look at the next 20, 30 years of my life? To me that’s a smart decision.”