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LaDainian Tomlinson retired as a member of the San Diego Chargers last year, but the running back has revealed that the team tried to persuade him to make a comeback in 2013. Tomlinson, who will turn 34 in June, told Yahoo! Sports that new Chargers general manager Tom Telesco and first-year coach Mike McCoy met him at the NFL scouting combine in February and "they asked me to come back and play." "At first I thought they weren't really serious, but they kept talking about it, and I realized it was real. They said, 'You can come back and carry it 10 or 12 times a game. We'd like to have you here,'" he told Yahoo! Tomlinson, the Chargers' all-time leading rusher (12,490 yards), told Yahoo! that he never seriously considered returning to play for the team in 2013, however. "... When I made the decision to walk away, I wrestled with it long and hard, and I knew it was final. Once I retired, that was it. My mind is in a different place. Mentally, going back would have been too hard," he told the website. In 11 seasons, Tomlinson rushed for 13,684 yards, fifth all-time, and scored 162 touchdowns, third-most ever. His 145 rushing touchdowns are second-most in history. He also passed for seven touchdowns. Chargers president Dean Spanos said last year that Tomlinson's No. 21 will never be worn by another San Diego player. The Chargers' depth chart at running back includes Ryan Mathews, Ronnie Brown and Danny Woodhead, who signed with the team as a free agent this offseason. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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