Panthers LB Davis rethinking 2018 retirement plans
As the 2018 season nears, Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis is backing off his assertion that it will be his last in the NFL.
The 35-year-old told NFL Media in January "this will definitely be my last year coming up." At Panthers minicamp this week, however, Davis said he is "very open" to the idea of playing in 2019.
The fact that he will begin this season serving a four-game PED suspension played a part in his change of tone.
"It's tough for me to potentially be in the last season of my NFL career, to be faced with a four-game suspension, but I'm just going to take it in stride, take advantage of the time I do have here with my teammates," Davis told reporters Thursday. "We are going to go to training camp. We are going to have a good camp and just looking forward to that."
Davis announced in April that he violated the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs and was suspended, saying he was "completely caught off guard by this. ... I've never in any way done anything to try to intentionally cheat the game." He continued to say the positive test was for a supplement he's taken for years without issue, which he stated again on Thursday.
"It definitely was something that was unintentional," Davis said. "It wasn't something I was doing deliberately. Sometimes in life things happen that are totally out of your control. When you're taking something that you've used for long, long periods of time, you don't expect it to be any different results.
"Unfortunately, I had a different result the last time I used it than the other eight years I've used it."
Davis has started 146 regular-season games (out of 164 played) since breaking into the NFL in 2005 and has career totals of 1,015 tackles, 28 sacks, 18 forced fumbles and 13 interceptions. He has posted more than 100 tackles in six different seasons.
Davis has one year left on his current deal with the Panthers. He said previously he expects to have a reduced role in 2018, with 2015 first-round pick Shaq Thompson taking more of his snaps.
"It's important for me to come out each and every day and show that I'm still capable of playing," Davis said. "I think when you look at the body of work over the OTA and minicamp process and period, I have proven without a doubt that I can still come out and play the game.
"I'm still out here running around, moving just as fast as any of our young guys. That is somewhat how I judge myself. When we bring new people in, rather see how I stack up against them."
--Field Level Media
