Richard Sherman says it was a game against the Eagles in 2021 that told him his career was just about over.
Sherman said on his podcast that while covering DeVonta Smith, he felt the physical pain of his body not being able to cut on a dime the way a cornerback needs to do against an athletic young receiver like Smith.
“DeVonta must’ve run this comeback ,” Sherman said, via Doug Farrar of USA Today. “I had him under control, I was like, bam, quick jam, easy, had him under control. He must’ve stopped and I tried to stop and my whole groin said, ‘Snap, snap, snap, snap,’ and I said, ‘Whoa, whoa.’”
Sherman said he toughed it out and stayed in the game, but knew at that moment that he couldn’t keep up anymore.
“Then you’re trying to guard and chasing him around and you’re like please don’t throw him the ball, please. My coach is looking at me on the sideline like, ‘Hey, you wanna come out, you wanna come out?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but they’re in a hurry-up,’ so I’m like bailing out. At that moment I was like yeah, this is probably my last year. I don’t got it for these young dudes right here,” Sherman said.
Sherman missed the next two months after that injury, came back and played briefly in two games late that season, and that was the end of his career.