After being cut by Texans, have we seen the last of Demaryius Thomas?
Feb 12, 2019, 5:34 PM | Updated: Feb 13, 2019, 7:36 am
The Houston Texans cut wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on Tuesday after just a half season with the team and after he suffered a torn Achilles in late December.
While the writing was seemingly on the wall for Thomas, who has a non-guaranteed contract in 2019 as well, “Stokley and Zach” co-host Zach Bye said he felt sympathetic for the wide receiver because “it might be over for Demaryius.”
“D.T. was already looking slow when he was healthy with a lack of explosion. There was no separation. Now, you’re going to mix in an Achilles and a rehab process? My gut tells me that we have seen the last of Demaryius Thomas,” Bye said. “Now, whether he joins a roster or not, I’m saying we’ve seen the last of D.T. as we know him.”
Whether Thomas does see the field in an NFL uniform again, said Bye’s co-host Brandon Stokley, comes down to how much he actually loves football.
“That’s the question,” Stokley said. “Obviously, he’s made a lot of money. He did say he’s not thinking about retiring. He said his main priority is getting back to being healthy. He still thinks he can play. I’m not thinking about retirement. I just don’t know where it will be.
“But, I don’t know if he realizes that he’s probably going to have to play for the minimum. That’s where he’s at now in his career.”
Whether Thomas wants to go through the grind of rehab, not just to get back to day-to-day life but to play at an elite level, and the uneasiness of not knowing where he’ll potentially land will determine the wide receiver’s future, Stokley said.
“Going through that rehab is not easy,” Stokley said. “And then, on top of it, you start looking at the contracts that people are going to be offering you, or maybe not offering you, and will you continue to grind in July if you haven’t signed with a team, when teams will say, well, call us back when you’re healthy.
Stokley said he would like to see Thomas go out on his own terms, however, with another NFL team and not “on a cart from an Achilles injury.
“But, sometimes you don’t get to choose. That’s the nature of the NFL,” Stokley said. “That’s why they tell you, hey, play every game like it’s your last. Play every play like your last because the reality is it could happen at any time. You know that, going into that, how it could end.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
