Former Houston Texans receiver Demaryius Thomas announced Monday through DenverBroncos.com that he is officially retiring from the NFL.
“It was a tough decision, a real tough decision,” Thomas told DenverBroncos.com. “… 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 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.”
Thomas played 125 career games with the Broncos from 2010-18, starting in 111 of them.
“I’m Demaryius Thomas, and I’ve finally come to a decision to hang it up. I’m going to retire, and I’m going to retire a Denver Bronco.” pic.twitter.com/Q6nNrxc59B
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) June 28, 2021
The Texans traded for Thomas on Oct. 30, 2018, as the club was 5-3, riding a five-game winning streak after starting the season off with an 0-3 mark. Incidentally, the Texans were gearing up to play in Denver when they traded for Thomas, who was on a dismal 3-5 club and was having his playing time supplanted by Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton.
Going to the Texans and pairing up with receiver DeAndre Hopkins and having Deshaun Watson throw him the ball meant a lot to a competitor like Thomas.
“I want to come in and try to do everything that I can, if that’s leading by example, taking a slot off of D-Hop or doing whatever I have to do to just try and bring everyone closer than they are,” Thomas told reporters on Oct. 31, 2018. “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 have ever been.”
Thomas played seven games for Houston, catching 23 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. The former 2010 first-round pick tore his Achilles in Week 16 at the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2019, the Texans released him, and the New England Patriots signed him in free agency only to cut him at the end of the 2019 preseason. Thomas spent the last 11 games of his career with the New York Jets.