Charles Tillman On Future: 'Maybe 2 Years? Max? That'd Be Awesome'
(CBS) Injured Bears cornerback Charles Tillman told the MMQB.com that he believes he'll make a comeback next season and that he ideally would like to play for two more years.
Tillman suffered a season-ending right triceps rupture in mid-September against the 49ers. He continues hanging out with the team and has been mentoring rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller, but he also has his own future in mind. Tillman doesn't want the last image of himself to be on the bench shedding a tear with a season-ending injury for the second consecutive campaign.
"Yeah," Tillman told MMQB.com when asked he believes he'll play next year. "Rehab is going well. I feel good. Ultimately it will be about getting cleared and then thinking about what I want to do."
Asked how many years he has left in him, the 33-year-old Tillman responded, "Maybe two years? Max? That'd be awesome … if my body were able to hold up."
"My first thought (after the injury) was, 'I gotta come back stronger than ever,'" Tillman told the website. "You look at how Mariano Rivera tore his ACL. He was just out shagging balls. Fluke injury. Looking at how I did mine, (Colin) Kaepernick scrambling — I try to push him and it just snaps. My thought was, 'I just want to get healthy first.' Once I get healthy, then I'll make my decision. There's so much emotion. I was trying to keep composure. I'm on TV and I don't want to be on TV crying. I want to support my teammates. It's a strange feeling."
Tillman's contract is up at season's end, as he signed a one-year deal last March.
