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4 superstars whose careers may be cut short by injuries

Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Earl Thomas' season likely came to an end Sunday night when he suffered a lower leg fracture in a collision with teammate Kam Chancellor. The Seattle Seahawks free safety has missed just one game due to injury, but the latest ailment has him contemplating his football mortality.

After being carted to the locker room for evaluation, he tweeted that he's considering retirement.

Thomas is the latest NFL superstar to be felled by injury, and he's a member of a growing group of elite players who may have their careers dramatically altered or even cut short while they're in their prime.

Earl Thomas, Seahawks

Thomas was clearly shaken after being carted from the field with the most significant injury of his seven-year career. Head coach Pete Carroll said he's missed just two games of football in his life.

The 27-year-old was playing perhaps the best football of his career, in line to be named to his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl and his fourth All-Pro team. Those realities made his tweet about retirement all the more haunting.

Would he really hang up his cleats? The tibia fracture, believed to require a seven-week recovery, is by no means career-ending, but Thomas has accomplished so much already in his seven years.

Winner of a Super Bowl and a yard away from back-to-back championships, he can rest easy knowing he's reached the pinnacle. He signed a four-year contract extension in 2014 that is slated to pay him $40 million, but he's never shown to be driven by money. If Thomas is comfortable walking away after helping put the Seahawks on the map, he'll go out as one of the more decorated safeties in recent memory.

Rob Gronkowski, Patriots

Bizarrely, Rob Gronkowski's latest injury is tied to Thomas.

The safety put Gronk on the shelf with a hit to the chest that the New England Patriots tight end called "one of the hardest" he's ever taken. That hit resulted in a pulmonary contusion to his lung.

He missed one game with that injury, but experienced leg and back pain a week later, necessitating season-ending back surgery.

Gronk has sustained major injuries before. He broke his forearm during the 2012 season, and again in the playoffs that year, and continues to wear a massive brace on the arm to this day. He also had a herniated disk in his back and tore his right ACL in 2013. That he felt "significant back and leg pain" after a Week 12 game this year is definitely cause for concern. Back injuries have felled many a man, and it appears to have at least temporarily taken down the 6-foot-6, 265-pound behemoth.

Rehab day 1! "Can't nobody hold me down... Oo no I got to keep on movin"

A video posted by Rob Gronkowski (@gronk) on

Gronkowski vowed to return from this latest setback, but when he does, will he regain his dominant form after the surgeries to his back, forearm, and ACL? Can he take back the crown of the best tight end in the NFL? Or would he be better off winding down his career?

He too is just 27 years old and in his seventh season, and has multiple Super Bowl appearances on his resume. But how much more punishment can Gronk take?

Luke Kuechly, Panthers

Luke Kuechly sustained a very public concussion - the second of his career - in Week 11, and hasn't played since. According to the Carolina Panthers, there's no timetable for his return.

The concussion Kuechly suffered against the Saints was disturbing on many levels. He appeared to be confused and in tears as he was carted off the field. During the broadcast of Sunday night's game between the Panthers and Seahawks, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya told the audience that Kuechly revealed he couldn't explain his reaction to the injury. He had been informed that uncontrollable emotional responses can be a symptom of concussion injuries.

A number of NFLers have retired at or near their primes due to concussions, including Chris Borland, Husain Abdullah, and Eugene Monroe this past offseason. No one would fault Kuechly for doing the same.

After just five seasons, the 25-year-old is one of the best defensive players in the league. He's the only player other than J.J. Watt to have won the Defensive Player of the Year award in the last four years.

Kuechly helped lead the Panthers to the Super Bowl last year, though they failed to win. He has seen the top of the mountain, can he risk suffering a third head injury?

J.J. Watt, Texans

J.J. Watt's trophy case is full, and his list of individual achievements is long, but it may be rivaled by his injury history.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year played in just three games this year before undergoing his second back surgery in three months.

Watt detailed the extensive list of his recent injuries in a revealing piece for The Players' Tribune. In it, he said he sustained a broken hand, a staph infection that almost required the amputation of one of his legs, two torn abs, three torn adductor muscles, and a herniated disc in his back - all during the 2015 season. He admitted the beating his body has taken has forced him to consider retirement.

Watt carries the load for the Houston Texans' defense, but that's quite a price to pay for dragging his team to the playoffs.

However, his reply to those who think he's finished is, "Hell no. I'm just getting started."

There's no way to know when or if any of these four superstars will return to the field. There's also no way to tell if they'll ever reach their elite level of play again.

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