Whether it was about his health or his spirits, Carolina Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson was feeling a lot of good on Wednesday.
The eighth-year defender fielded some questions after today’s practice and gladly talked about his ongoing recovery from offseason knee surgery. Thompson was asked by Joseph Person of The Athletic how he “got here” (with “here” referring to his progress), but quickly replied using a bit of humor.
“How I got here—I got drafted in 2015 by the Carolina Panthers. Been here eight years now,” Thompson said jokingly before diving into the topic at hand. “Had a little procedure. It happened. Needed to happen. It was a rough one for me last year. Wanted y’all to know I was kinda playing through a lot of pain. Bone on bone. But I’m here now. I’m back with my teammates and I’m happy to be out there.”
Thompson is out there thanks to Saturday’s news, which saw the team activate him from the PUP list. His placement there, of course, stemmed from that procedure to clean up his knee.
In addition to that injury, Thompson missed three games last season after straining the plantar fascia in his right foot during the Week 4 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. Regardless, the former first-rounder turned in one of the best campaigns of his career—posting 104 combined tackles, 2.0 sacks and two interceptions over 14 contests.
And now that he’s on the field again, Thompson is focused on doing the little things first on his journey back.
“Everything’s coming back, but you always need to knock off some rust,” he said. “Mine is just a little work, a little technique here and there. Gaining that confidence and pushing off and stuff like that.”
