Jun 13, 2017; Renton, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas (29) watches during a minicamp practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas estimates he’s making good progress in his recovery from a broken leg that ended his 2016 season.
“I think I’m about 80 percent,” Thomas said of how he feels in his recovery.
“I think my 80 percent is still faster than most of the guys that are out here. Just trying to keep my mental game sharp, try to stay in tune, help the young guys out as much as possible. I’m just happy I’m back out here with the guys.”
By all accounts, Thomas is ahead of schedule in his recovery. He admits that even he is surprised he’s able to do so much this early in the process.
Thomas sustained a broken left leg in a game against the Carolina Panthers in early December. Thomas considered retirement in the initial aftermath of the injury before becoming confident he could come back from the injury and play to his standard.
Thomas has been able to be on the field somewhat over the last few weeks of offseason workouts. He’s mostly been limited from doing full team drills as the team continues to manage his recovery process. However, Thomas was able to take another step forward on Tuesday, beginning to work back in to some of the team’s passing game drills.
“I heard he said he’s 80 percent. Isn’t that awesome? He thinks he’s 80 percent,” head coach Pete Carroll joked. “He looks good. He’s running around doing everything and flying around the field and getting his confidence back.”
Thomas elected not to have surgery and to let the leg heal naturally. He said he was informed by doctors that the injury had a 50-percent chance of healing correctly without surgery and he elected against surgery because he didn’t want his legs cut on if they didn’t have to be.
It seems to have worked out well in Thomas’ favor as he is doing more during OTAs and minicamp than anticipated.
“Early on when we first got out here I wasn’t sure but I had to test it out just to see,” Thomas said. “When I’m in walk-throughs, that’s easy. But when you’re out here and everybody is running full speed, that’s when you can really gauge what’s happening. That’s where I get my best gauge yet and so far so good.”
Carroll said Thomas is expected to be full speed for the start of training camp next month. However, they may still take it easy to start camp before ramping up his workload.
“I do anticipate he will be able to. I don’t know if we’ll do that with him,” Carroll said. “We’ll make sure and work our way into it but there’s nothing showing that he can’t.
“We’ll just make sure he’s in really good shape and not press it early because there’s no reason to. … He’s well ahead of where we thought he’d be right now.”
