Tillman: No regrets playing 2015 with partially torn ACL
Charles Tillman may not have gotten the chance to play in Super Bowl 50, but spending his final season with the "special" Carolina Panthers was worth battling through a partially torn ACL.
The 35-year-old cornerback played most of the season with the injured ligament, and missed the Panthers playoff run after fully tearing his ACL in the regular-season finale.
However, "Peanut" insists playing through the pain was worth it.
"I was willing to tear my ACL for those guys," Tillman told Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer. "When you have a special team, when you’re in a room with 53 men who are very close and think the world of each other, that’s what you do. That’s the kind of culture that was set. I know I was only there one year, but within that year I believed in that culture."
Tillman, who announced his retirement this week after 13 seasons, spent one season with the Panthers after 12 years with the Chicago Bears. He saw his last three seasons cut short by injury, of which he's admittedly now feeling the effects, so he decided to call it quits, but he's not regretting any of his decisions as a player.
"If I could go back and do it again, I’d do the same thing again," said Tillman. "I'd play on a partially torn ACL. I knew the cost and possibility of it tearing. I’d easily do it again to go to the Super Bowl.
"I’m paying for it now but you know what? It was a smart choice. I do not regret it at all."