Seahawks’ Earl Thomas still mulling retirement: ‘I just want to have peace’
Dec 20, 2016, 2:34 PM | Updated: 2:47 pm
Earl Thomas said Tuesday that he is "caught in between" retiring and returning to the Seahawks. (AP)
(AP)
Seahawks free Safety Earl Thomas acknowledged on The Rich Eisen Show that emotions were high when he tweeted about retirement after breaking his leg earlier this month but said Tuesday that he is still contemplating his future in the NFL.
“Of course emotions were taking over me, but I was still thinking clearly in my eyes,” Thomas told Eisen over the phone. “And like I said, I still kind of feel the same way. There’s a lot of pressure when you play in this game and I play at a high level and my teammates expect me to do what I do. And it’s all about recommitting myself and I don’t now. I don’t ever want to step on a football field half-heartedly.’’
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Thomas, 27, suffered his the injury at CenturyLink on Dec. 4 against the Carolina Panthers and told Eisen that his leg is “good” and “getting better by the day.” Thomas said he couldn’t do much with the leg, which is in a cast, other than let it heal. When asked if he was still thinking about retirement Thomas responded: “Yeah I’m kind of enjoying just waking up in the mornings without the pressure. Peace is starting to return to me, bro, and I think that’s my ultimate goal in my life — I just want to have peace.
“But I can say I went back to the VMAC (the team’s training facility) the other day, my competitive juices came right back. So I don’t know man. I’m kind of caught in between right now.’’
Thomas, a five-time Pro Bowler, missed the first game of his seven-year career one game prior to suffering his season-ending injury. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after the game that it would take “months’’ for Thomas to recover.
Thomas explained that he has enjoyed being able to spend time with his wife, mom and 4-year-old daughter Kaleigh Rose.
“It’s hard for you to be well-rounded when you are always thinking about football and I definitely want to be better as a man, not just as a football player,’’ Thomas said. “So I started thinking about things like that. And it just has me thinking.’
“We’ve been having a blast, man,” he said of his daughter. “I’m starting to really get to know her more and more, and she’s loving me and her and her mama, they’re always pawing on me. So it’s just been like I said, peaceful. That’s the best thing I can describe it as.”
Thomas has continued to watch the games and said that, beyond visiting with the team at VMAC, his juices started flowing when he saw his teammates in their “Action green” jersey’s Thursday night.
“I was just saying to myself I wish I was out there with them,” he said. “When you play in CenturyLink especially, man, the energy is flowing, the crowd is behind you and just from me watching on TV I can feel it. I can feel it through the TV screen.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman said during his press conference Tuesday that he spoke with Thomas during the safety’s visit to VMAC and that they talk frequently via text message. Sherman said he expects Thomas to return.
“I don’t think he’s gonna retire but crazier things have happened in the world,” Sherman said. “But that’s just my opinion.”
