Ricardo Lockette retired last May after suffering a significant neck injury on Nov. 1, 2015. Although the former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver won't play football again, he recently had an opportunity to thank the paramedics who helped prevent a far worse outcome.

Weeks after suffering the career-ending injury, Lockette told Sports Illustrated's Greg Bishop that he "wasn't thinking about football," but rather if he would be able "to walk or run again." During a visit four months later to firefighters and paramedics in Redmond, Washington, Lockette said a doctor told him he could have died, per the Seattle Times' Jayson Jenks.

"He said if I would have stood up then, the weight of my head—left, right, front, back—I would have died," Lockette said. "If one of my teammates would have came over and pulled my arm, just barely, I might have died. Or if the returner at the time would have broken a couple of tackles and they would have fell on me, I would have died on that field."

This week Lockette spoke at the Washington Fire Chiefs Conference in Spokane to express his gratitude.



"The reason that I'm standing here, the reason that I have the opportunity to hug my mom now, the reason that I got an opportunity to go to my daughter's graduation from elementary school is because of you guys," Lockette said, "It's more like I'm talking to my angels. It's more like I'm talking to the people who saved my life."

He did not yet realize he was indeed talking to two of the paramedics who treated him.

Upon seeing them for the first time since the nearly fatal day, he tearfully hugged both men and thanked them.

[700ESPN, h/t For The Win]