Richard Sherman Says Covering DeVonta Smith Told Him It Was Time To Retire

For every athlete, there's got to be that moment where they go Danny Glover and something makes them realize that they're "getting too old for this s--t." For Richard Sherman, that was when he had to cover

Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

Sherman was one of the league's top cornerbacks (and a world-class trash-talker), especially during his time in Seattle. After a few years in San Francisco, Sherman played one last season in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after which he called it a career, hung up his cleats, and picked up a mic. He's now an analyst on Amazon's Thursday Night Football.

Sherman recently revealed that it was early — very early — into that season in Tampa that he realized it was time to retire, and that was all thanks to Smith.

He told the story to Philadelphia tackle Lane Johnson on an episode of The Richard Sherman Podcast.

“I had just came to Tampa so that was my third game,” Sherman said. “DeVonta must’ve run this comeback, and I had him under control, I was like, bam, quick jam, easy, got him under control. He must’ve stopped and I tried to stop and my whole groin said, ‘Snap, snap, snap, snap,’ and I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’”

That of course made Sherman's job considerably more difficult.

"Then you're trying to guard him like, 'Please. don't throw him the ball," he said.

Sherman said that he stayed on the field because Philadelphia was running their hurry-up offense.

"At that moment I was like, 'Yeah, this is probably my last year. I don't got it for these young dudes."

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