As to one of the opportunities he received, however, Thornton politely declined.
He talked with the Lions. He says that he even agreed to join them. But Thornton ultimately decided against joining the franchise that was even worse last year than any of the bad Cincinnati teams for which Thornton played.
"I would probably have to gain weight," Thornton told Sirius NFL Radio, via John Niyo of the Detroit News. "That was the situation with Detroit [and] Coach [Jim] Schwartz, who coached me in Tennessee.
"I went up there and we kind of agreed to a deal and a few days later I sort of backed out of it for various reasons," Thornton added. "I would have had to gain about 20 pounds actually. He wanted me to be pretty big in the middle, so I would just have to start eating a lot. I'm in pretty good shape.
"I wouldn't be able to come back right now and play 60 plays, but I don't think anybody can right now."
Thornton, a ten-year veteran, spent four seasons in Tennessee and then six in Cincinnati.
"any of the bad Cincinnat teams for which Thornton played?" Its not like he played on a ton of bad Bengals teams. He played on one 4-11-1 teams (last season), one 7-9 team and every other team was 8-8 or better.
Not much of a headline there. You could have inserted some 300 NFL players into the space that says "John Thornton". A headline that would have really gotten some attention would have been:
"__________ ___________ says "no thanks" then "thanks" to Lions".
Rhode Kill says:
July 13, 2009 11:07 AM
Not much of a headline there. You could have inserted some 300 NFL players into the space that says "John Thornton". A headline that would have really gotten some attention would have been:
"__________ ___________ says "no thanks" then "thanks" to Lions".
You mean like Larry Foote? You should have got the Lion bashing out of your system last season, tool. It's kind of hard to bash a team that has over 50% new starters, new coaches, schemes, etc. In fact, when the Lions beat Cinci on the 6th of December, I'll make a point of stopping by here to rub it in your face.
PS: Save the crap talking for when your team is arguably better than the team you're trying to talk about. The Bengals have been only slightly better in Millens tenure, and that says a whole hell of a lot, to me. See you boys in December.