Cleveland Browns' veteran running back Jamal Lewis says he plans to retire from the NFL at the end of the season.

The 30-year-old is in his tenth year in the NFL, but is struggling with the hapless Browns and says that he will bow out after a decade in the sport.

Lewis ran for 69 yards on 16 carries as the Browns were routed 30-6 by the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and he said after the game that it was to be his last season in the NFL.

Having already missed two games this season with injuries, Lewis is struggling to reach his usual standards and feels his time could now be up.

"When I talk, I mean what I say, and I think you all know that," he added after making the announcement.

"It is very hard. 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."

A Super Bowl winner as a rookie with the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, Lewis has 10,456 career rushing yards and 58 touchdowns.

He spent time in prison in 2005 for his involvement in a drug deal, and he was thought to be way below his best when he joined the Browns in 2007 after seven years with the Ravens.

However, he hit back with 1,304 yards that season, and even made 1,002 in an awful Browns team last year, but with this year's Browns also bad to the tune of 1-7, he admits it is not the perfect 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."

Lewis led the league in rushing in 2003 with 2,066 yards, but the Tennessee graduate is now seemingly winding down his career.