The day after a devastating Superbowl loss to the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll announced that cornerback Richard Sherman, who has become one of the most recognizable names in the NFL over the last few years, will undergo Tommy John surgery in the offseason in order to repair a torn ligament in his left elbow.
Tommy John surgery is an surgery mostly used on pitchers in major league baseball, and for them it usually requires a recovery time of about 12 months, Carroll doesn’t see that being the case for Sherman, however.
“I really don’t think so as long as Sherm doesn’t want to become a late-inning reliever,” Carroll said. “There’s plenty of time to work all that out, and I don’t think there’s any concern.”
Richard Sherman wasn’t the only player for the Seahawks who played in the Superbowl despite lingering injuries. Hard hitting safety Kam Chancellor injured his knee 2 days before the game in practice, and linebacker Earl Thomas played in the game despite suffering a shoulder separation in the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers.
“For Kam Chancellor to play [in the Super Bowl], it’s superhuman stuff,” Carroll said. “He shouldn’t have been able to go. He may have had an earlier injury from years past, and maybe some of the damage was from before. He got really banged hard on it.”
“All three of those guys [Sherman, Thomas and Chancellor] might end up getting fixed up here, but they wanted to play for their teammates. It was courageous. It was an extraordinary effort from guys who played through unbelievable issues.”
In addition Carroll confirmed that nickelback Jeremy Lane suffered a compound fracture after his 1st quarter interception of Tom Brady and he is going to require surgery in order to have it completely repaired.