Breaking: Devin Thomas Has Left Bears, Retiring from NFL
In a surprising turn of event, wide receiver/special teams ace Devin Thomas has left the Chicago Bears and intends to retire from the NFL. Two tweets from Thomas confirm his intentions:
and
Not much grey area in those tweets. The news is surprising because by all accounts, Thomas was having a good camp in his first season with the Bears and was in line to be a big contributor on Special Teams. He was set to start his seventh season in the league, coming off a Super Bowl win with the Giants last season.
The surprise retirement appears to open up a spot at wide receiver. Even though he was expected to be primarily a special team, he would have occupied a wide receiver spot. At most, the Bears would keep 6 wideouts on the active roster. Brandon Marshall, Earl Bennett, Devin Hester and Alshon Jeffery are locks and Eric Weems, another special teams contributor, is expected to hold that 5th spot. It opens a window for Dane Sanzenbacher to try to nail down that last spot. It’s widely believed that Johnny Knox will go on IR and doesn’t figure into the plan in 2012.
Good luck to Devin Thomas and as always…