Perspective on the Retirement of Demaryius Thomas

A longtime stud at the wide receiver position in the NFL officially announced his retirement Monday. Former Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas told DenverBroncos.com that he was hanging up his cleats after a decade in the league.

As he told the website, Thomas said, “It was a tough decision, a real tough decision. Always as a kid or always when I did something, it was always [giving] my best to go and go and go. And football was my go. Every year I tried to get better, and I knew I was aging, of course. It was something tough, but I’m grateful I did 10, 11 years. I’m so grateful for that and now I can move on. I’m happy, I’m healthy. And now I can try to find my next itch.”

The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket was selected by the Broncos with the 22nd overall pick in the 2010 draft, three spots ahead of quarterback Tim Tebow, with whom he played a couple of seasons.

Thomas played nine seasons in the orange and blue for Denver, starting 111 games out of 125 he appeared in. In those seasons, he was seen as a number one receiver option, finishing with 629 catches for 9055 yards and 60 touchdowns. He also won a championship with Denver in Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers in February of 2016.

However, during the 2018 season, Thomas suffered a torn Achilles after being traded from Denver to the Houston Texans. He was cut the following offseason, and then signed by the New England Patriots. After being cut at the end of the preseason, the Patriots resigned Thomas to a one-year deal, but eight days after being signed, he was promptly shipped off to the New York Jets for a 2021 sixth-round draft pick.

After being traded to the Texans, Thomas was excited about a fresh start. He had the opportunity to play alongside stars DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson.

In a meeting with reporters on Halloween 2018, Thomas said, “I want to come in and try to do everything that I can, if that’s leading by example, taking a slot off D-Hop or doing whatever I have to do to just try and bring everyone closer than they are. “I don’t really know how it is, but it’s trying to jell us together better than where we are to get over the hump. It’s not easy to win a Super Bowl. It’s not easy when you get into the playoffs. We’re going to have to be closer than what we ever have been or they ever have been.”

However, his memories will contain lots of highlights playing for the Broncos. Thomas will especially remember the time he had playing with Peyton Manning for five seasons. The duo led the squad to two Super Bowls, and helped the longtime QB shatter old NFL records.

“I wouldn’t say took off for me, I would say took off for us as a whole group,” Thomas said of Manning. “We learned as a group because I had games where I had over [100] yards before he got there . . . And then having the group learning together as a whole, as one, thinking like one, that’s when the best came out of all of us.”

Demaryius Thomas had a solid NFL career that spanned a decade, and now in retirement, he is excited to start the next chapter of his football life.