FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — For Vince Wilfork, retirement means a chance to sleep late, go fishing or just hang around without needing to be someplace special.

“I’m finally calling it quits from a game that I truly, truly, truly love, a game that I was committed to, a game that I was dedicated to, a game that I gave all to,” the former Patriots and Texans defensive tackle said Wednesday after a news conference in New England to confirm his long-rumored retirement.

“For 20 years I’ve been on a schedule,” he said. “I just want to relax. I just want to do something I haven’t had a chance to do in 20 years.”

A five-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time Super Bowl champion in New England, Wilfork returned to Gillette Stadium for a ceremony to retire as a Patriot. He and owner Robert Kraft signed a contract, and Wilfork was re-presented with a No. 75 jersey like the one he got when he was picked 21st overall in the 2004 draft.

The Patriots were defending Super Bowl champions then. Wilfork took that as a challenge, and he helped them claim the NFL title in his rookie year and again in 2014, his last year in New England.

“There wasn’t a matchup that I thought I couldn’t win,” he said. “I was a true champion. I believed I was the baddest person that’s on the field at all times, and that’s how I handled my business. That’s what kept me driving.”

Wilfork, 35, signed with the Houston Texans in 2015 as a free agent and played his final two seasons there. Kraft said it was a sad time for him personally, having grown to like Wilfork and his wife, Bianca, so much that he invited them along on a family vacation.

“But the good news is, he’s coming back here and asked to be a Patriot for life,” said the owner, who wore a medallion Wilfork gave him picturing Kraft and his wife, Myra, who died in 2011.

About a dozen Patriots players and members of the sideline staff attended the farewell news conference after their practice on Wednesday.