An NFL legend has announced that he will hang up his boots after the 2020 season. On Tuesday, Washington Football Team linebacker Thomas Davis announced via Instagram that this Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles will be his last football game of the regular season. The 37-year-old was originally chosen by the Carolina Panthers with the 14th overall choice in the 2005 NFL Draft. He spent 14 years with the Panthers, a season with the Los Angeles Chargers and then followed his former coach Ron Rivera to Washington in 2020.
Davis has had a unique career and is wearing a special set of boots on Sunday that will reflect that. He tore his ACL three times, was able to fully recover in each instance and played with a broken forearm in Super Bowl 50. Here is what he posted along with the photo of his boots on Instagram:
“This weekend will be my last football game of the regular season of all time. @ Mache275 help me get to the bottom of my memory and reflect on some of the things I was able to accomplish over my 16 (years) in the NFL. Sometimes things can happen that make you feel unworthy, just know that no man can steal what God has already planned for your life! I am extremely blessed and grateful for all the opportunities I have won, because nothing has ever been given to you! get out and you pray that God’s plan will align with yours! “
Davis was nominated for the Pro Bowl on three consecutive 2015-17 seasons, was an All-Pro of the top team in 2015 and also won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2014. He was a great example on and off the field and the definition of an iron man who has hardened an illustrious career.
Washington will represent NFC East in the playoffs if he defeats the Eagles on Sunday, so Davis may have another chance to play some post-season football. In 199 career games, he recorded 1,216 combined tackles, 29 sacks, 18 forced fumbles and 13 interceptions.