Shaq Thompson Wants To End Career With Panthers

Panthers LB Shaq Thompson has spent 10 seasons with the team after being selected 25th overall out of Washington in the 2015 draft.

Due to injuries, Thompson has played just six games over the last two seasons including four in 2024. Thompson suffered a torn Achilles in Week 4 and his contract is set to expire after a couple of restructures.

At age 30, Thompson expressed his desire to retire in Carolina but knows the decision is up to the team.

“I would love to end my career here. Be one of the guys in history to play with one team,” Thompson said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. “But it’s up to them. These two injuries … there’s nothing I can do. But it happened. Get better and come back strong.”

Former teammate LB Thomas Davis has spoken to Thompson and motivated him to fight back from injuries after Davis suffered three torn ACLs in his career.

“T.D.’s just giving me a lot of motivation to get back. Everybody knows what he went through. I got really nothing compared to that. I feel like I can come back from it.”

Thompson reiterated his feelings on retiring as a Panther but heads into the offseason with the sole focus of getting healthy.

“Talked to a lot of guys, a lot of people have been with multiple teams, whether it’s five years, 10 years, two years. But it’d be a blessing to finish my career off here. But that’s up to them, how they view me or see me. If I’m part of the future or not, it is what it is. I’m just here to get healthy.”

Thompson, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Panthers back in 2015. He completed his four-year, $8.808 million rookie contract that included $7.172 million guaranteed and made a base salary of $9.232 million under the fifth-year option. 

Thompson was in line to be an unrestricted free agent in 2020 when the Panthers signed him to a four-year, $54.2 million extension.

Thompson agreed to a reworked contract last offseason and is set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2024 season. The team reworked his deal once again back in March.

In 2024, Thompson appeared in four games for the Panthers and logged 35 tackles in four starts.