A first-ballot Hall of Famer when the time comes, Richard Sherman is one of the greatest cornerbacks of all time. Over his career, Sherman allowed just 18 touchdown passes, while grabbing 41 interceptions, and breaking up 73 passes. Opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of 54.5 when targeting him, which isn’t much better than throwing it in the dirt.
That said, time is undefeated, and even greats like Sherman know when to focus on something else. Sherman knew exactly when that was. In the end, Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith cemented his decision to retire.
The play happened in Week 6 of the 2021 season, marking Sherman’s third game with the Buccaneers. He defendedSmith on a Jalen Hurts pass to Jalen Reagor with 7:36 left in the first quarter. Though Sherman wasn’t targeted on the play, he knew he’d had enough.
“DeVonta must’ve run this comeback,” Sherman said in a recent episode of his podcast. “I had him under control. I was like, bam, quick jam, easy, I had him under control. He must’ve stopped and I tried to stop and my whole groin shouted,‘Snap, snap, snap, snap,’ and I said, ‘Whoa, whoa.’”
Sherman added: “Then you’re trying to guard and chasing him around and you’re like please don’t throw him the ball, please. My coach looks at me on the sideline like, ‘Hey, you wanna come out, you wanna come out?’
'Yeah, but they're in a hurry, so I'm bailing out. At that moment I was like yeah, this is probably my last year. I don’t get it for these young dudes here."
Sherman had moved on to a successful career in broadcasting and podcasting, which he put together even before he made that final decision to move on to greener pastures.
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