Though Rodney McLeod's signing officially clinched that the Philadelphia Eagles wouldn't be retaining Walter Thurmond as a safety, hiring Jim Schwartz — who probably prefers a bigger, box safety across from Malcolm Jenkins — probably meant that Thurmond's time with the Eagles had come to an end.
Thurmond, of course, successfully converted to safety last season after playing cornerback for the first five seasons of his career. In theory, the Eagles, who don't seem particularly close to re-signing Nolan Carroll, could attempt to bring Thurmond back as a corner, though it's unclear if his price-tag would be too high for the team to be interested.
It's also not clear if Thurmond would be interested in potentially returning to corner, or what his future in the league is.
Les Bowen of The Philadelphia Daily News says that Thurmond's future in the NFL, regardless of what position teams would be interested in having him play, is unclear.
Multiple team sources said Friday that might be because Thurmond, who turns 29 in August, is contemplating retirement.
Reached by text, Thurmond asked "who started that rumor?" But when asked whether he wanted to deny it, he did not respond.
Given how well Thurmond played individually in 2015, him potentially considering retirement comes off as surprising in some senses. But maybe a successful 2015 season gives Thurmond some closure on his career.
2015 was the first time in Thurmond's six season career that he played all 16 games. Between 2011 and 2012, Thurmond's second and third seasons in the league, injuries limited him to just eight games. In 2013, Thurmond played all 12 games he was eligible to, and even was part of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, but did serve a late-season four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Then in 2014, his first and only season with the New York Giants, Thurmond tore his pectoral in week two, costing him the rest of the season. Out of the 96 regular season games that have been played since Thurmond entered the league, he's missed 44 of them.
Thurmond, as mentioned, thrived as a safety in his first season with the Eagles, but did so for a bad team that eventually fired the coach that didn't seem to have a particularly favorable reputation with veterans in the locker room. Now after that season, it appears Thurmond would have to join a fourth NFL team to continue playing. Part of what makes sports fun, especially when you deal with a host of injuries, is the camaraderie with your teammates when you are on the field. When you become a player that's changing teams every few seasons, it's hard to develop that same level of closeness with your teammates.
Bowen also noted in his article that Thurmond is interested in film-making. It's often much easier for players to walk away from sports when they have a combination of two things: a lack of stability both in terms of health/team, and a plan for what comes after their athletic career. Thurmond would seem to check both of those boxes, making the idea of him potentially walking away after seven NFL seasons less surprising than it initially seemed.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is an editorial assistant for Eagledelphia.com.
