Michael Thomas: It's unfair to boo Andrew Luck over decision to retire

Thomas defended his long-time friend and one-time high school rival, who was greeted with a cascade of boos by the hometown crowd.

Giants safety Michael Thomas has known now-former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck since they were rivals in high school. 

While the two men have maintained a close friendship through the years, Thomas admitted that he was still a little surprised when Luck, without warning, announced he was retiring from the NFL at the age of 29.

Luck, who has fought through injuries the last few years, finally decided that his time was up and that it was time to leave the game he had played since he was a young boy growing up in California, on his terms. For that, Thomas applauded him.

“Anytime you can leave on your terms, you’ve done it right,” Thomas said. 

“If you felt you’d given this game everything you could and you start looking at your kids, you start looking at your family, how much you sacrifice — how much they sacrifice—and how much time you missed away from them. 

"Your body—you feel like physically and your mental health and safety, like it’s not there and you want to step away from the game, spend more time with them and give time back to them, then that’s to each man.”

Thomas indicated that he was disappointed with the reaction Luck received when he walked off the Lucas Oil Stadium playing field just before the Colts kickoff Saturday night for the final time as an active NFL player. Luck, who was surrounded by camera people not long after the word broke of his retirement, was serenaded by a heavy chorus of boos by the crowd.

“Any player when they decide that they’ve given this game all they could, and they’re gonna step away from it for personal reasons, whatever it is, to boo him, that’s not right, regardless if the fans think it’s premature, too early for their liking or whatnot. That’s not fair,” Thomas said.

“I’m not gonna comment on their fan base, but I’d hope any of our fans would understand if any of our guys chose to stop early or say that’s enough, they’ve given this game everything they had, they’d understand.”