Before Seattle kicked a last second field goal to beat Arizona 20-17 last Sunday, Earl Thomas, the last member of the original Legion of Boom, was carted off the field after breaking his leg. Not only will this keep him out for the remainder of the season, but that should be the final time we see ET in a Seahawks uniform. As he was carted off the field, Thomas was shown flipping off the Seahawks sidelines on his way to the locker room.
Over the offseason, Thomas didn't report to mandatory team meetings, organized team activities, training camp, or even preseason games. He held out because he was in the final year of his contract, where he'll earn a little over $8 Million for the 2018 season and wanted an extension, but the Seahawks didn't gave in. We can dive into the nuts and bolts of his previous contract where he was given sums of money that I'll probably never see in my lifetime, but it's easy to see where Thomas is coming from. These guys are human, and the way that the Seahawks play football, their style of play is hard-hitting, fast, and always wanting to defend every blade of grass. Thomas saw former teammates Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril retire by force due to long-term deathly consequences if they were to play football again, and Richard Sherman was tired of Seattle and packed his bags to San Francisco. If Thomas were to sustain a long-term injury, he wanted loads of money to ensure he would be taken care of, so what were the odds of Thomas' freak accident injury in the Cardinals game?
It's extremely unfortunate that throughout 2018, the Seahawks and Thomas were never able to reach an agreement. Earl Thomas is going to go down as one of the greatest players to ever play this game and will be a Seahawks legend...but his gesture on his way to the locker room makes this "thank you" a little more bittersweet. I was scrolling through Twitter and saw a reply from one of my favorite people in this world, Brant Jangard. He responded to a former Seattle sports radio personality by saying:
"It is sad that his Seahawks career very well may end like this (gesture included). He knew what the possibility was of the front office caving and doing a new deal when he held out. I love Thomas the player but have lost respect for Thomas the man."
My feelings are exactly the same! I would love to start out by saying thank you Earl Thomas. Thank you for putting your body on the line and making plays that only you could. There is nobody else in this world that could make the Safety position in football more fun to watch. With his track-like agility, Thomas was able to run from one end of the field to the next, making deep balls nearly impossible to catch for receivers that were being chased down by Area 29 (Thomas' nickname for his position). Thomas was a bullet on the field, a leader for the young kids, and a man with so much passion for football that his talking was shown through his play on the field. There may never come a time where we see a player like Thomas ever again, and if last Sunday was truly the final time we saw him a Seahawks uniform, thank you a million times for everything Earl and I'm so happy we gave you at least one Super Bowl win.
But then...he flipped the bird!
Earl Thomas is a freak of an athlete and somebody that all other 31 teams wish they had. Unfortunately, his middle finger to the Seahawks sideline watered down my thoughts and feelings towards Earl Thomas the man. We get it Earl, we get you wanted an extension in case stuff like this happened. The Seahawks were willing to trade you and also willing to re-sign you, but no other teams were going to cave in and the Seahawks just couldn't put all their chips in for you, also because of the injury you sustained on Sunday. There's all the talk of, "These guys make enough money" or "If I were making $8 Million a year, I wouldn't be bitching or complaining about wanting to make more", but Earl is a smart dude and knew if this freak accident were to happen, he would be more than covered.
It was a true blessing watching Thomas for nine years in a Seahawks uniform. He played his butt off and showed up every week willing to anything in his power to make Sportscenter-like top plays and help his teammates with his heavy toolbox filled with speed, locked on vision, and aggression. It's just really upsetting that his final minutes playing for Seattle was tarnished with one single finger.
10/6/18 UW & 10/7/18 Seahawks Predictions:
In my 2018 yearly predictions, I had both UW and Seattle losing this weekend. UCLA is 0-4 and Chip Kelly looks all but dead in his first year back in college. As for Seattle, they just squeaked by winless Arizona and although this intense matchup against the Rams is at home, Seattle better play better than they have all year long or this could be a repeat of last years travesty.
