FS Earl Thomas, recently picked at No. 21 in a list of top 100 players by NFL.com, told ESPN.com Thursday he won’t be healthy enough to start training camp next week and could miss the regular season opener.
Thomas, who was injured tackling Randall Cobb in the second quarter, said he has come a long way in his recovery from surgery Feb. 24 to repair his left shoulder labrum torn in the NFC Championship against Green Bay. He played with the injury in the Super Bowl, including the fourth quarter when Patriots QB Tom Brady completed 13 of 15 passes.
But he won’t be ready for camp July 31 and admits the first week of the regular season is a question mark.
Thomas has never had a serious injury in his football career. He described it in a blog post:
“Back in the locker room, they reset my shoulder. I felt it pop into place, and that was it. I felt much better immediately. I felt like I could go play. They did some X-rays, and while I waited, I kept telling myself, ‘Just finish the game.’ I had to go out there and finish. That would have been the regret of my life if I didn’t finish that game. And to the training staff’s credit, they got me fixed up and ready to go really fast.”
He called his rehab mentally challenging.
“I’m unsure about everything at this point,” he told ESPN. “I will find out more when I get back to Seattle (July 30) when I take my physical.”
Another member of the Legion of Boom, Richard Sherman, had a serious elbow injury in the NFC title game but also played in the Super Bowl. He chose not to have surgery and has been medically cleared, but has had no contact play in six months.
“Obviously (I) haven’t had to stop anyone or be violent, so we will see how it handles in training camp,” Sherman told ESPN.
5 Comments
I hope ET can be ready for the opener. At this point he seems quite tentative. RS also seems quite cautious. But these guys are tough.
I found Holmgren’s recent comments on RW very interesting. Can’t help wonder if they will have any influence on Wilson to sign before the season starts. Hope so.
I heard those as well. He described the Hawks offer to Wilson as fair and I’d put it up a notch higher as “very good.” Won’t have an impact on Wilson and his agent at all though. They have a plan and are sticking to it.
Not surprising. It was reported after the injury that ET could miss the first month of the season. The NFL season is a marathon. It’s not how you start but how you finish.
Earl is a warrior…he doesn’t want to miss a play if need be so for him to be so tentative I would think he is having recovery issues that obviously will require a little more time. He knows his own body. I know we need a healthy Thomas to return to the play offs so caution is the word. Maybe missing training camp he will come back fresher than ever.Go hawks
take the money and run away from the national violence league, earl.