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Devin Thomas Now Set to Un-retire..........
Devin Thomas ready to un-retire
By Sean Jensen on September 5, 2012 4:50 PM |
A month ago, at the age of 25, receiver Devin Thomas announced his retirement on Twitter. Now, he's apparently un-retiring.
"Im officially a free agent so DT fans I will keep y'all posted where I land," he wrote on his Twitter account. "I finally feel complete as a human being and i am ready to return to the NFL! Im not old, banged up, or hate the game. I retired to set fire to my spirit and find truth."
He is, in fact, a free agent, since the Bears terminated his contract last month.
But did Thomas walk away because of the grind of training camp? Did he get discouraged about his prospects of making the Bears roster, which was deep at the receiver position? Or did he, as he suggested at the time, want to "give back to my hometown and coach/ mentor kids?"
Hard to imagine he made that much of an impact on youth in a month.
In a separate interview with the New York Daily News, shortly after his retirement, Thomas offered some more insight.
"What am I risking when I step onto the field?" he told the paper. "Do I want to be in a position where I can't play with my kids? Do I want to end up leaving the game with all kinds of brain damage where I can't remember things? It's a good time for me to step away.
"I'm at a good age where I'm still healthy," he added. "I had my own injuries that I can account to, when I almost thought I broke my neck, concussions. Everybody glorifies this game, says it's so great. It's definitely something people put you on a plateau. But they don't understand the sacrifices you make personally. As a young man that understands the bigger picture, I know this game doesn't define me."
A second-round pick of the Washington Redskins, Thomas certainly didn't live up to expectations there. His career highlight was last season, with the New York Giants, when he recovered two fumbles in the NFC title game in San Francisco.
The Giants beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Thomas needs to provide more clarity on why he retired and now is un-retiring. But, based on what I saw at training camp, he certainly is worthy of an NFL roster spot. I'm sure someone will give him a chance.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Well this seems pretty obvious or at least to me it does.
Thomas sees there's no way that he's gonna get a shot at anything other than a #5 WR spot and play STeams and he wants to be someplace where he can catch the ball not just cover kickoffs and punts.
So we lose a guy who would have been a pretty good STeams guy but really didn't want to be a Chicago Bear and in the process we kept Sanz who is probably a much better WR and who does want to be a Chicago Bear. That's fine by me.
Last edited by soulman; 09-06-2012 at 04:49 PM.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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This is something Goodel should look into before this becomes commonplace in the NFL. If he is allowed to do this I can see it happening a lot more often. Like maybe with a draft pick who doesn't want to play for the team he is drafted by, or another player who doesn't want to play for the team he was just traded to.
Come in Goodel
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Originally Posted by
soulman 
Well this seems pretty obvious or at least to me it does.
Thomas sees there's no way that he's gonna get a shot at anything other than a #5 WR spot and play STeams and he wants to be someplace where he can catch the ball not just cover kickoffs and punts.
So we lose a guy who would have been a pretty good STeams guy but really didn't want to be a Chicago Bear and in the process we kept Sanz who is probably a much better WR and who does want to be a Chicago Bear. That's fine by me.
Spot on. Thank God DT had the courage to actually "retire". Imagine if he hadn't. You know there would have been at least a 50-50 chance the Besrs would have done something stupid like cut Sanz for Thomas because he was a better "scheme fit" like they did with Clutts.
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Sounds to me he has adopted the Farve philosophy. Don't commit to playing until after TC so you don't have to do any work. Then bless the league with the gift of your announced availability.
Memo to Devin: It doesn't work unless you are a major HOF talent.
Originally Posted by
soulman Devin Thomas ready to un-retire
By Sean Jensen on September 5, 2012 4:50 PM |
A month ago, at the age of 25, receiver Devin Thomas announced his retirement on Twitter. Now, he's apparently un-retiring.
"Im officially a free agent so DT fans I will keep y'all posted where I land," he wrote on his Twitter account. "I finally feel complete as a human being and i am ready to return to the NFL! Im not old, banged up, or hate the game. I retired to set fire to my spirit and find truth."
He is, in fact, a free agent, since the Bears terminated his contract last month.
But did Thomas walk away because of the grind of training camp? Did he get discouraged about his prospects of making the Bears roster, which was deep at the receiver position? Or did he, as he suggested at the time, want to "give back to my hometown and coach/ mentor kids?"
Hard to imagine he made that much of an impact on youth in a month.
In a separate interview with the New York Daily News, shortly after his retirement, Thomas offered some more insight.
"What am I risking when I step onto the field?" he told the paper. "Do I want to be in a position where I can't play with my kids? Do I want to end up leaving the game with all kinds of brain damage where I can't remember things? It's a good time for me to step away.
"I'm at a good age where I'm still healthy," he added. "I had my own injuries that I can account to, when I almost thought I broke my neck, concussions. Everybody glorifies this game, says it's so great. It's definitely something people put you on a plateau. But they don't understand the sacrifices you make personally. As a young man that understands the bigger picture, I know this game doesn't define me."
A second-round pick of the Washington Redskins, Thomas certainly didn't live up to expectations there. His career highlight was last season, with the New York Giants, when he recovered two fumbles in the NFC title game in San Francisco.
The Giants beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Thomas needs to provide more clarity on why he retired and now is un-retiring. But, based on what I saw at training camp, he certainly is worthy of an NFL roster spot. I'm sure someone will give him a chance.
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Originally Posted by
The Benjamin This is something Goodel should look into before this becomes commonplace in the NFL. If he is allowed to do this I can see it happening a lot more often. Like maybe with a draft pick who doesn't want to play for the team he is drafted by, or another player who doesn't want to play for the team he was just traded to.
Come in Goodel
But it was the Bears who terminated his contract Benji. They could have placed him on the reserve retired list and held his rights but they decided not to. Teams can do that and will do that if they still have an interest in holding rights to a guy if he decides to "un-retire".
Drafted players can refuse to sign and re-enter the draft the following year and there's nothing the team who drafted them originally can do about that. That's been the case for quite as while now. 
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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Why did the Bears terminate the contract? If he didn't play they didn't have to pay, right? Why not just keep the right to a player that does that in case they change their mind abd get a pick aleast?
The passion of a few, to rule the many, that's Washington D.C.. Where else was that said before, about whom?
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If I'm running a company and I have an employee under contract that is only ok -- may or may not make the cut and then he tells me that he really doesn't have his heart in it, I let him go. Whether his heart is not in the job or whether his heart is not in the job AT THIS COMPANY doesn't matter to me. He is not a huge talent and doesn't want to be here. I'd cut him too. I suspect that is what happened.
Obviously, Devin was not being entirely genuine, but he still didn't want to be here.
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I hope the main reason he retired in the first place is b/c Sanz ran him off.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
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Member
Soul, I guess I don't blame him. It probably would've come down to him & Sanzenbacher for the final spot. But having said that the NFL is about competition. He's bigger, faster & stronger than Sanzenbacher but to me he kinda gave up.
The funny thing is if he would've been a Bear the last couple years he might've competed for a starting position.
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