Getty Images

When Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis last played football, his arm looked like the football itself.

But Davis said he’s feeling good after playing Super Bowl 50 with his broken right arm in a cast, days after surgery to put a a metal plate and 12 screws in so he could face the Broncos.

“I think a lot of people were shocked to actually see what it looked like, to actually play in the game like that,” Davis said, via Bill Voth of Black and Blue Review. “A lot of people questioned the reason for me putting the picture out there, but it was strictly just to show people what I’m willing to do for me team, what I’m willing to do for this organization, for this city.

“Like I told y’all after the NFC Championship, if there was any possible way that I could play in that game, I was playing. And I think that proved that.”

Davis said it wasn’t until after the game when he began to realize the pain, of, you know, playing a football game with a broken arm.

“I couldn’t even really lift my daughter up without feeling the pain in my arm,” Davis said. “It’s just one of those things, the after-effect after everything calms down and it really starts to set in that you just broke your arm two weeks ago. I had to remind myself, ‘OK, you’re not supposed to be doing some of this stuff.'”

The guy has come back from three torn ACLs and now this, so the process of rehabbing shouldn’t be new. He took a few weeks off from lifting (presumably weights but maybe his daughter), but was back in the gym last month ready to prepare for his 12th season.