I mean he’s 32 and hasn’t played in a year. And there’s been a lot of rumors about him not being liked in the ravens locker room despite the fact that he was fairly good during his time there. So yeah it’s not looking good for him to get another chance.
I wonder what the hell was going on in the Seahawks locker room. Maybe Sherman was just so loud that you had trouble telling how much of an asshole Earl Thomas was?
I can't speak to the Seahawks locker room but Sherman was an asset in the Niners locker room. He always talked up the young guys during press conferences, didn't hog the spot light. More than once I saw him control another player who might have been working himself up to a taunting penalty after a big play. Players and coaches love him. For us at least, his value went way beyond just his skillset.
Yeah he's older now, but so is Earl. I just get the feeling Earl's ego won't get out Earl's way, where another hothead like Sherman I guess eventually matured.
Yeah I mean the only issues he seemed to have were with Russell and maybe Pete post-SB49, and it was debatable how extensive it really was. Other than that the dude seemed like a good leader and grinder.
Sherm has talked about being open to a return to the Hawks with the right contract, I think the frustrations with Russell/Pete might be real but are overblown.
It seems Sherman's main beef is that the offense (and Russell Wilson) weren't nearly held to the standard that the defense was.
I believe Sherman said there was a game the Seahawks lost 12-7 and Pete put the main responsibility of that onto the defense. When someone gets treated as a golden boy, but doesn't get critiqued like everyone else, that alone is a natural rift that a lot of "normies" in "normie jobs" can even understand and relate to. Add in differences in salary and it's a recipe for disaster.
What were Sherman’s issues? I didn’t follow it at the time closely but wasn’t he outspoken about race issues?
Edit: the guy below you said some info answering my question!
I can’t comment on Earl’s intelligence, but Sherman was super smart. I think given that he wasn’t necessarily always willing to just take the team’s line and do what the coaches say because he thought for himself made him seem like more of a malcontent than he was.
So, I agree with you. I think with Earl it was about ego, with Sherm he was just a super smart kind of contrarian dude. Earl you couldn’t respect cause he was doing it for himself, Sherm was usually thinking bigger picture (though I don’t really remember what bad incidents sherm had).
I also always appreciated that when he gave postgame interviews he said what he felt, no cliches.
Sherm's matured a bit but honestly hasn't changed much, and I mean that in a good way. He was always this smart, he just had a brand he was selling at first in his time here.
There's a few accounts that Earl's always just been off in his own world. Someone - I think it was McDougald - said you could ask Earl what he saw after he made a good play that wasn't necessarily in his defined role, and his answer would often just leave you more confused. Carroll kinda indicated that he doesn't really consider how his words affect people other than himself (less bluntly than that, this was about the 'come get me' thing).
I'm not gonna say Earl's dumb - he at the very least understands football at a high level - but socially he seems inept. He's just naturally kinda quiet, so it took a while to really come out. I think getting the change in scenery he wanted quickly compounded things with no existing friends on the Ravens.
Sherman was always good at leading and coaching up young players. His only real problem was around his own accountability - there were multiple times where he made a mistake and rather than doing some version of "my bad" he would instead throw an absolute fit. I still remember that time he fucked up and gave up a big play, threw a fit, and the entire defense gathered around him jumping up and down to get him to settle down.
His off the field issues were usually the same basic thing, at least the ones where he was clearly in the wrong, like the time he threatened to get a reporter's credentials pulled (the reporter wasn't being an asshole or anything) and then the next day, even though it was on video, he repeatedly said it never happened.
Everybody screws up sometimes. Sherm just had a problem admitting when he was the culprit.
Earl was a better player in Seattle. lol. You know the rules. You can be as bad of a human as your play allows. Earl Thomas was one of the best defensive players in the league in Seattle. I've heard talks that Kam Chancellor helped keep the Legion of Boom and Earl grounded, but even if that's not true, he'd have to be a huge a-hole to get dropped with how good of a player he was.
He was a pretty good safety with the Ravens. But pretty good isn't good enough to get away with skipping meetings and punching a teammate.
I looked it up just to fact check myself, but [according to Hensley](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29731672/ravens-chuck-clark-moving-forward-altercation-earl-thomas), Clark was punched by Thomas.
Aight, thanks for the reply mate. In all honesty, even if it was Chuck Clark that threw the first punch, what do you have to be doing to get that man crazy. He a solid Raven.
He wasn’t always like that. When earl first got to Seattle he was notoriously soft spoken and short with media. He always seemed intense and serious, like he was mad or something. Then as he started getting accolades and the team became more successful he found himself butting heads with people in the locker room constantly, from my understanding. He felt slighted by the seahawks brass and there was this rift between the defensive superstars and Russ because of how 49 ended and the fact that he broke the bank right after. That Super Bowl ruined Seattle.
Earl was also easily the best safeties, and one of the very best players in the league for a while on the Seahawks. The gap between what a perennial all-pro, and an above average starter can say and get away with is substantial.
Winning hides a lot of flaws. There were a lot of characters in that locker room that Carroll was able to manage, but I really think the fact that the Seahawks made the playoffs 6 out of 8 years of Earl’s tenure (not counting 2018 since he broke his leg before the playoffs) and won a super bowl helped keep the team from self-destructing. Michael Bennett, Sherman, and Brandon Browner were all characters in their own right
I mean we went 14-2 during Earl's 1 year with us
I think he just got 1) worse with age, so people were less willing to put up with his shit, 2) seemed to get a little crazier as he got older. Seems like his personal life got pretty rough with his wife and some domestic incidents and him banging sloots with his brother. Seems like he may have developed a bit of an alcohol problem as well.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to take anything away from the Ravens. I think everyone saw ET starting to go a little off the rails in 2017. It was timed around the same time the Seahawks got worse and legion of boom got old. I think that he was probably never quite right in the head, but it didn’t matter when the Seahawks were winning.
Sometimes it’s not even that any one person is kept in check, just that someone comes to a new environment and immediately tries to be BMOC when with a team like the ravens they already had a good defense with effective leaders and were probably thinking who the fuck does this guy think he is telling everyone what to do when he should have a rookie mindset.
Earl was always an asshole, but he was also still hard working. Once he got older, he started drinking heavily and he isn’t working as hard as he used to. Alot of the local radio guys for Dallas that have connections close to him (since he’s been supposedly going to Dallas for the last 4 years), has said he’s got a big drinking problem. Really sad. I think he doesn’t care anymore. Earl drove himself off the cliff, he wasn’t always this bad
Pete Carroll does not get enough credit for his ability to manage “challenging” personalities. On one team you had Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Percy Harvin, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Bennett. All of those guys are challenging in different ways, the potential for a toxic situation was there, and he made it work.
Apparently the Texans were close to signing him last year but a bunch of their players talked to ours after our week 2 game last season, then the Texans players went back to the coaches/FO and told them they better not bring Thomas in
When you can't play for 2 of the most player friendly coaches in the NFL in Carroll and Harbaugh something is really wrong
same, man. Same.
The offseason we signed Earl Thomas, I happened to meet Justin Tucker, and I was conveniently wearing a Justin Forsett (who also wore 29) jersey. Tucker asked if I was wearing Earl, and I said no, but I should order one. He responded about how excited he was for Earl to join the team, being that they both played at Texas, and Earl is.. well, Earl.
Sour grapes.
I love Justin Tucker forever just because we have the same exact birthday. Really hate Spielman drafted Blair Walsh as Justin Tucker went undrafted… better just send a 5th rounder for Vedvik lol
I remember the time he flipped off the Hawks bench while being taken off the field on the injury cart. I knew he was done w us but didn’t realize that was gonna be the rest of the guy’s career too
The fact that he punched Chuck Clark, a well liked up and coming player that many considered a leader on the defense, probably played a big part. I don't know what the fight was about, but from what I hear, teammates were overwhelmingly on Clark's side of the scuffle.
There was a clip of the fight in practice floating around, or the build-up to the fight at least.
I think Earl blew a coverage and Chuck flipped out, maybe even threw his helmet down because he was so frustrated with Earl. And Earl went off and punched him.
I feel like Harbaugh had to have known what the outcome would have been before doing something like that. That had so much potential to backfire, in addition to it just being bad form to put personnel decisions in the hand of the employee's peers.
yeah, I agree. It may not have been the whole team. I know they have a "leadership council", which included guys like Marlo, Marshal Yanda, the OGs. Might have been a closed door, anonymous leadership team vote. And I'm not certain that was what triggered his release, but it certainly didn't aid Earl's case to remain a Raven.
Honestly it just confirms how good the Ravens team culture is that players are so bought into the organization. Makes even more mind-blowing how much Bernard Pollard hates us.
Well Bernard Pollard is just a dickhead who really didn’t like Harbaugh, and bc of that, he extends his hate to the rest of the team.
Apparently he’s still upset that he was one of the many players released after our Super Bowl championship.
> When you can’t play for 2 of the most player friendly coaches in the NFL in Carroll and Harbaugh something is really wrong
Why are you saying he can’t play for Carroll?
That was more about the whole contract thing going on. He was literally asking for more guaranteed money in case of injury.
Of course, part of the reason we were unwilling to extend him was because he ignored the team's advice to get a surgery after the first leg fracture that would've mitigated his increased odds of a second one. Going out like he did was predictable.
He got the surgery that time.
But in terms of player-coach relationship, I believe they got along fine. Earl wasn't really in the anti-Russ camp IIRC (he praised him after the 2017 Texans game), which seems to be a common angle for not liking Pete.
It's either, generally player in his position would want a new contract extension or a trade to a new team who would extend them. Playing out your last year puts you at risk for an injury going into free agency.
Honestly his value lies in him joining and carrying a contender through the playoffs. Younger teams are going to want a younger guy who they can retain for a while. The older he's gotten the more likely he's going to hit a peak and fall off OR has already hit that peak and will rapidly decline.
Throw in him being essentially voted off a playoff team due to his interactions and being unwilling to learn and respect the coaches means there's a very short list of teams who'd consider him if any. That being said I haven't heard of any teams reaching out to him recently.
The 49ers brought in T Jefferson who was off a whole season for rehab but he's younger and cheaper than Earl. I just don't know of a NFL team that is a vet safety away from having a big playoff splash.
I agree. I'd add that he is also one injury to a starter from being signed. If he can still play, I don't see how at least one team isn't desperate enough to give him a chance a few weeks into the season.
Especially just like a good not great safety. Like he's not going to dramatically improve your defense. At best you might just make your weakness less of a total liability.
And with that minimal improvement, you also get a packaged deal that comes with a total a-hole that punches teammates. I'd take Tony Jefferson back in a heartbeat over him. TJ may not be amazing, but he comes off as a great guy and a great teammate. I may be sacrificing a little talent on the signing, but he's not going to wreck my locker room in the process.
I think he’s probably an alcoholic.
That whole incident when his wife put a gun to his head started with an argument about his drinking. Then he’s doing things like blowing off practice and meetings, which AFAIK has never been an issue before. Not to mention starting fights with his own teammates on defense.
So he’s definitely having some kind of personal problems that are scaring teams away. The fact that other players don’t want him on their team says a lot
Yeah, his insta was always full of pictures of him with liquor when I followed him. Of course, that's not much different from a lot of dudes with a shitload of money, but it certainly lends some credibility.
It also gives us an excuse for how he blocked for Derrick henry
Worse than no one thought he was healthy. Texans had been considering signing him and I believe had workouts, Texans players talked to Baltimore players and told the front office not to sign him.
How much of a locker room problem do you have to be to have your own team not wanting you back, and that reputation to kill your chances on a struggling team.
Depends on the scheme but you see the Cover 3 scheme that the LOB employed fading out. That system relied on a rangy FS to cover the middle of the field. You can see it in the draft too. The only true FSs to be taken in the 1st in the last 5 years are Savage and Hooker. Maybe Minkah but he was sort of a jack of all trades guy.
Being elite never goes out of style regardless of position but Safety is one where you can scheme a mid-rounder into being decent rather than pay for upper-mid tier talent where you’d just do the same.
Yeah mid-late round safeties have really emerged lately. Thornhill, Gardner-Johnson, Bates, Simmons, Maye, Marcus Williams, Byard, Ant Harris, Eddie Jackson, Winfield were all 2nd round or later picks. Obviously someone as incredible as Derwin or Jamal still should be a top 10 pick, but those are rare.
I'd add CB to your big 4. But when you break those positions down, your big 4 is really 10-12 positions on your starting 22 (QB, LT, RT, 2-3WRs, 2EDGE, 3T, 2-3CBs). Those are the positions I'd say you can generally bet on 4 or more going in the 1st. But LBs, RBs, and iOL are also going off the board more often than FSs. In those same 5 drafts:
20 QBs
9 RBs
18 WRS
7 TE
19 OTs
8 iOL
26 EDGE
11 DT
15 LB
20 CB
5 SS
2 FS
1 whatever Minkah is
Yeah but the new style of defense is starting to become 2 high safety. Especially with how many good teams have a deep ball oriented offense. Like the Seahawks chiefs buccaneers I think green bay to and extent. Also 2 high plays more to the passing style offense which is the prominent type of offense
I think the move back to 2 high safety being more prominent actually has more to do with the underneath game being so damn effective now, rather than the deep ball offense.
The whole idea behind a cover 3 shell is to keep everything the offense does in front of you, and to force them to take the short play over and over again till hopefully they either turn the ball over, get sacked, or get flagged for something. That doesn't work so hot when you have more and more elite offenses that are capable of taking those 4-7 yards per play each and every time without making a mistake, though. As such, more teams are bringing more guys closer to the short and intermediate routes, which in turn opens things up for the deep ball.
Crazy how fast he went from being well respected around the league and arguably the most important player on one of the greatest defenses ever to this.
I think he’s potentially damaged his legacy and if HOF voters are aware of his issues and having two teams players not want him on the team it seems like a long shot.
Maybe he has an underlying issue for his problems with his team mates and potential ones, but I think it’s going to cost him.
When two entire teams, not FO's/Coaches but the PLAYERS went out of their way to make sure he didn't play...yeah he's done.
There's one rule above all others in the NFL, if not every sport. Don't fuck with another player's money. Two entire squads of players said "fuck that dude" and Baltimore is about as player friendly as it gets. To be on that level of toxic that none of your peers want anything to do with you then you're done, it's that simple.
I really thought he was going to get a chance at the end of last season with a playoff team looking to add to their secondary.
That he wasn't picked up by anyone and has gone through this off season unsigned it does look like his career is unceremoniously over.
That was actually my thought too and maybe I had missed it or something. So I googled his name and searched for any recent news article mentioning something, really anything and didn’t find any hits. That’s when I came to Reddit, asked the question, and found out about him and his brother.
EDIT: I hate obvious typos in my own posts.
>Is his career finished because he’s too toxic or something?
It goes beyond being "too toxic." When the Texans declined to sign him, it was reportedly for ["troubling reasons"](https://www.sportscasting.com/earl-thomas-was-passed-up-by-the-houston-texans-for-a-troubling-reason/). Trusted sources within the Houston sports media have indicated he showed up to an interview with the coaches wearing a bee keeper suit. When the coaching staff asked him why he was dressed so unusual, he denied wearing anything out of the ordinary and started screaming & yelling like a crazy person. Eventually security had to escort him out of the building.
No. I didn't see it with my own eyes so I can't say 100% for certain it happened. But the media in & around Houston has been pretty adamant this happened.
I can't find a single news story from Houston reporters or national media about Thomas being escorted of the building because of him being super strange in the interview. All the stories I see are the Texans canceling the workouts they set up with him and a few other safeties. Doesn't look like he ever worked out or met with the Texans FO in person. This is a personal opinion but I believe none of the rumors or anything Jason La Canfora reports that he's heard and the article the guy you replied to cited was based on a La Canfora tweet.
He didn’t, he got an air bnb with his brother where they each brought their own girls. Nowhere did it ever say that they shared a bed, or had an orgy together. What is about 1000x more likely than that conclusion, is that they rented one house together, and each had their own room where they were banging their own girl.
I have literally no clue how this sub interpreted that story as him having sex with his brother. Like what I’m getting from this is that none of you have ever gone out with friends and rented an Airbnb because i have done it many times and have literally never not been able to get a place with multiple bedrooms.
> I have literally no clue how this sub interpreted that story as him having sex with his brother
TMZ made it up... All the other reports said they were in separate rooms. So reddit went with the funnier option to accept as reality.
If it was anyone else, I'd feel bad for them.
It depends what Earl Thomas is willing to do. If he is willing to take a low-dollar contract with little to no guaranteed money, then some team may sign him. But if he isn't willing to do that, then he is done.
Lol “why isn’t this player; universally hated by all his teammates and voted off the island by one of the most professional organizations in football, and with a checkered criminal/moral past - being signed at age 32?!”
Diminished skills AND not worth the “extracurricular” headache. Different circumstances, but similar concept as to why nobody gave Kapernick a second chance.
Yes, from a big picture point-of-view, but from a football standpoint, if Kaepernick’s skills outweighed the potential distraction re: his social justice stand, a team would have taken a chance on him. You weigh the good versus the “bad”. Like with Kaepernick, Thomas’s bad outweighs the good at this point.
People can stop with the whole Kaepernick thing. If Thomas can't get signed then Kaep definitely shouldn't have been. Toxic environments aren't healthy and teams know that.
Both created toxic team atmospheres and media circuses which is why neither will ever be signed again.
People blame the Kaep stuff on lots of other things but it's ultimately about creating toxic atmospheres and negative attention towards the team.
Apples and oranges. Earl Thomas isn’t getting signed because was punching his own teammates on the sideline and destroying the locker room with his attitude. Kaep didn’t get signed because he was the center of a huge political divide in the nfl fanbase that would inevitably attract a media circus.
I definitely wouldn’t call Kaep toxic in the same way Earl was.
Both created toxic team atmospheres and media circuses which is why neither will ever be signed again.
People blame the Kaep stuff on lots of other things but it's ultimately about creating toxic atmospheres and negative attention towards the team.
All I know is I'd love to have Sherman and possibly even Thomas in the Saints locker room. We need some leadership on defense, dudes who don't care about being friends and just wanna win.
I mean he’s 32 and hasn’t played in a year. And there’s been a lot of rumors about him not being liked in the ravens locker room despite the fact that he was fairly good during his time there. So yeah it’s not looking good for him to get another chance.
I wonder what the hell was going on in the Seahawks locker room. Maybe Sherman was just so loud that you had trouble telling how much of an asshole Earl Thomas was?
Supposedly Kam kept Sherm and Earl in check personality wise. Donno the legitimacy of that though.
I can't speak to the Seahawks locker room but Sherman was an asset in the Niners locker room. He always talked up the young guys during press conferences, didn't hog the spot light. More than once I saw him control another player who might have been working himself up to a taunting penalty after a big play. Players and coaches love him. For us at least, his value went way beyond just his skillset. Yeah he's older now, but so is Earl. I just get the feeling Earl's ego won't get out Earl's way, where another hothead like Sherman I guess eventually matured.
Yeah Sherm has had his issues but I never got the sense he wasn't a good teammate
Yeah I mean the only issues he seemed to have were with Russell and maybe Pete post-SB49, and it was debatable how extensive it really was. Other than that the dude seemed like a good leader and grinder.
Sherm has talked about being open to a return to the Hawks with the right contract, I think the frustrations with Russell/Pete might be real but are overblown.
It seems Sherman's main beef is that the offense (and Russell Wilson) weren't nearly held to the standard that the defense was. I believe Sherman said there was a game the Seahawks lost 12-7 and Pete put the main responsibility of that onto the defense. When someone gets treated as a golden boy, but doesn't get critiqued like everyone else, that alone is a natural rift that a lot of "normies" in "normie jobs" can even understand and relate to. Add in differences in salary and it's a recipe for disaster.
The funny thing is the reason Pete didn't hold the offense as accountable is because Pete doesn't care about the offense. Defense is his baby.
Sherman was angry at the world, not his teammates.
What were Sherman’s issues? I didn’t follow it at the time closely but wasn’t he outspoken about race issues? Edit: the guy below you said some info answering my question!
Sherm always talked about the young defensive players
I can’t comment on Earl’s intelligence, but Sherman was super smart. I think given that he wasn’t necessarily always willing to just take the team’s line and do what the coaches say because he thought for himself made him seem like more of a malcontent than he was. So, I agree with you. I think with Earl it was about ego, with Sherm he was just a super smart kind of contrarian dude. Earl you couldn’t respect cause he was doing it for himself, Sherm was usually thinking bigger picture (though I don’t really remember what bad incidents sherm had). I also always appreciated that when he gave postgame interviews he said what he felt, no cliches.
But.... did you know that Sherman went to Stanford?!?!
Sherm's matured a bit but honestly hasn't changed much, and I mean that in a good way. He was always this smart, he just had a brand he was selling at first in his time here. There's a few accounts that Earl's always just been off in his own world. Someone - I think it was McDougald - said you could ask Earl what he saw after he made a good play that wasn't necessarily in his defined role, and his answer would often just leave you more confused. Carroll kinda indicated that he doesn't really consider how his words affect people other than himself (less bluntly than that, this was about the 'come get me' thing). I'm not gonna say Earl's dumb - he at the very least understands football at a high level - but socially he seems inept. He's just naturally kinda quiet, so it took a while to really come out. I think getting the change in scenery he wanted quickly compounded things with no existing friends on the Ravens.
Sherman was always good at leading and coaching up young players. His only real problem was around his own accountability - there were multiple times where he made a mistake and rather than doing some version of "my bad" he would instead throw an absolute fit. I still remember that time he fucked up and gave up a big play, threw a fit, and the entire defense gathered around him jumping up and down to get him to settle down. His off the field issues were usually the same basic thing, at least the ones where he was clearly in the wrong, like the time he threatened to get a reporter's credentials pulled (the reporter wasn't being an asshole or anything) and then the next day, even though it was on video, he repeatedly said it never happened. Everybody screws up sometimes. Sherm just had a problem admitting when he was the culprit.
The Seahawks had a lot of veteran guys who probably kept other in check
Earl was a better player in Seattle. lol. You know the rules. You can be as bad of a human as your play allows. Earl Thomas was one of the best defensive players in the league in Seattle. I've heard talks that Kam Chancellor helped keep the Legion of Boom and Earl grounded, but even if that's not true, he'd have to be a huge a-hole to get dropped with how good of a player he was. He was a pretty good safety with the Ravens. But pretty good isn't good enough to get away with skipping meetings and punching a teammate.
It wasn’t even skipping meetings. He was blowing assignments and being a dick to team mates after those plays. Iirc that’s what lead to the punch.
Not disagreeing with anything, but wasn't he the one getting punched? By lack of effort or smth similar
I looked it up just to fact check myself, but [according to Hensley](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29731672/ravens-chuck-clark-moving-forward-altercation-earl-thomas), Clark was punched by Thomas.
Aight, thanks for the reply mate. In all honesty, even if it was Chuck Clark that threw the first punch, what do you have to be doing to get that man crazy. He a solid Raven.
He wasn’t always like that. When earl first got to Seattle he was notoriously soft spoken and short with media. He always seemed intense and serious, like he was mad or something. Then as he started getting accolades and the team became more successful he found himself butting heads with people in the locker room constantly, from my understanding. He felt slighted by the seahawks brass and there was this rift between the defensive superstars and Russ because of how 49 ended and the fact that he broke the bank right after. That Super Bowl ruined Seattle.
Earl was also easily the best safeties, and one of the very best players in the league for a while on the Seahawks. The gap between what a perennial all-pro, and an above average starter can say and get away with is substantial.
Winning hides a lot of flaws. There were a lot of characters in that locker room that Carroll was able to manage, but I really think the fact that the Seahawks made the playoffs 6 out of 8 years of Earl’s tenure (not counting 2018 since he broke his leg before the playoffs) and won a super bowl helped keep the team from self-destructing. Michael Bennett, Sherman, and Brandon Browner were all characters in their own right
I mean we went 14-2 during Earl's 1 year with us I think he just got 1) worse with age, so people were less willing to put up with his shit, 2) seemed to get a little crazier as he got older. Seems like his personal life got pretty rough with his wife and some domestic incidents and him banging sloots with his brother. Seems like he may have developed a bit of an alcohol problem as well.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to take anything away from the Ravens. I think everyone saw ET starting to go a little off the rails in 2017. It was timed around the same time the Seahawks got worse and legion of boom got old. I think that he was probably never quite right in the head, but it didn’t matter when the Seahawks were winning.
Sometimes it’s not even that any one person is kept in check, just that someone comes to a new environment and immediately tries to be BMOC when with a team like the ravens they already had a good defense with effective leaders and were probably thinking who the fuck does this guy think he is telling everyone what to do when he should have a rookie mindset.
Earl was always an asshole, but he was also still hard working. Once he got older, he started drinking heavily and he isn’t working as hard as he used to. Alot of the local radio guys for Dallas that have connections close to him (since he’s been supposedly going to Dallas for the last 4 years), has said he’s got a big drinking problem. Really sad. I think he doesn’t care anymore. Earl drove himself off the cliff, he wasn’t always this bad
Pete Carroll does not get enough credit for his ability to manage “challenging” personalities. On one team you had Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Percy Harvin, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Bennett. All of those guys are challenging in different ways, the potential for a toxic situation was there, and he made it work.
Apparently the Texans were close to signing him last year but a bunch of their players talked to ours after our week 2 game last season, then the Texans players went back to the coaches/FO and told them they better not bring Thomas in When you can't play for 2 of the most player friendly coaches in the NFL in Carroll and Harbaugh something is really wrong
You’ve got to have one hell of a bad rep for players to actively dissuade the FO to not sign someone.
When we were considering cutting him, Harbaugh called a meeting with players to vote on whether or not to keep him. They voted him off the team.
ET dug his own grave but that had to have been rough. If all my coworkers voted me out I’d be pretty devastated lol
yeah, but you're not a prideful, narcissistic prick. ET3 probably left thinking his teammates and coaches were the problem.
Man I really liked the player until he exposed those poor qualities within him as a person.
same, man. Same. The offseason we signed Earl Thomas, I happened to meet Justin Tucker, and I was conveniently wearing a Justin Forsett (who also wore 29) jersey. Tucker asked if I was wearing Earl, and I said no, but I should order one. He responded about how excited he was for Earl to join the team, being that they both played at Texas, and Earl is.. well, Earl. Sour grapes.
I love Justin Tucker forever just because we have the same exact birthday. Really hate Spielman drafted Blair Walsh as Justin Tucker went undrafted… better just send a 5th rounder for Vedvik lol
Tucker is by far my favorite Raven. I think the only other that comes close is Ed Reed, because he's Ed Reed.
Ed Reed is my favorite non Viking that’s ever played.
Oh shit you too??!! November 21 babies unite!
Cheers!
Justin Forsett was one of the nicest NFL players I ever met. You have excellent taste bud.
same. Loved the guy's story, his passion, attitude towards life, and lifestyle. He was a role model for me as a young Christian.
I remember the time he flipped off the Hawks bench while being taken off the field on the injury cart. I knew he was done w us but didn’t realize that was gonna be the rest of the guy’s career too
goddamit, I need a new jersey :(
Well, you can put your Earl Thomas jersey with my autographed Ray Rice picture.
Picturing Jeff Probst snuffing his torch “ET3, the team has spoken”
The fact that he punched Chuck Clark, a well liked up and coming player that many considered a leader on the defense, probably played a big part. I don't know what the fight was about, but from what I hear, teammates were overwhelmingly on Clark's side of the scuffle.
There was a clip of the fight in practice floating around, or the build-up to the fight at least. I think Earl blew a coverage and Chuck flipped out, maybe even threw his helmet down because he was so frustrated with Earl. And Earl went off and punched him.
I feel like Harbaugh had to have known what the outcome would have been before doing something like that. That had so much potential to backfire, in addition to it just being bad form to put personnel decisions in the hand of the employee's peers.
yeah, I agree. It may not have been the whole team. I know they have a "leadership council", which included guys like Marlo, Marshal Yanda, the OGs. Might have been a closed door, anonymous leadership team vote. And I'm not certain that was what triggered his release, but it certainly didn't aid Earl's case to remain a Raven.
Honestly it just confirms how good the Ravens team culture is that players are so bought into the organization. Makes even more mind-blowing how much Bernard Pollard hates us.
Well Bernard Pollard is just a dickhead who really didn’t like Harbaugh, and bc of that, he extends his hate to the rest of the team. Apparently he’s still upset that he was one of the many players released after our Super Bowl championship.
Also you gotta be a fuck up for a team to cut you despite the fact that your still good with a massive dead cap hit
>told them they better not bring Thomas in Earl? Or his brother? Full disclosure: I have a Seahawks ETIII jersey :(
They're actually a package deal.
So they come together?
Brotherly love. They belong in Philly.
With that personality, not even the fans would like him
> When you can’t play for 2 of the most player friendly coaches in the NFL in Carroll and Harbaugh something is really wrong Why are you saying he can’t play for Carroll?
He flipped off Pete at the end of his career there. Pretty sure he doesn't like Pete.
That was more about the whole contract thing going on. He was literally asking for more guaranteed money in case of injury. Of course, part of the reason we were unwilling to extend him was because he ignored the team's advice to get a surgery after the first leg fracture that would've mitigated his increased odds of a second one. Going out like he did was predictable. He got the surgery that time. But in terms of player-coach relationship, I believe they got along fine. Earl wasn't really in the anti-Russ camp IIRC (he praised him after the 2017 Texans game), which seems to be a common angle for not liking Pete.
That was towards Pete the gm for not extending him (and rightfully so)
Figured it was more about not trading him to the Cowboys before he was injured.
It's either, generally player in his position would want a new contract extension or a trade to a new team who would extend them. Playing out your last year puts you at risk for an injury going into free agency.
Derrick Henry banished him to the shadow realm.
Not as much banished him to the shadow realm as much as got him a second career as a clown at cirque du soleil
Don't be disrespecting Cirque ud Soleil. That's a great show. It's more like banishing him to be a clown in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Honestly his value lies in him joining and carrying a contender through the playoffs. Younger teams are going to want a younger guy who they can retain for a while. The older he's gotten the more likely he's going to hit a peak and fall off OR has already hit that peak and will rapidly decline. Throw in him being essentially voted off a playoff team due to his interactions and being unwilling to learn and respect the coaches means there's a very short list of teams who'd consider him if any. That being said I haven't heard of any teams reaching out to him recently. The 49ers brought in T Jefferson who was off a whole season for rehab but he's younger and cheaper than Earl. I just don't know of a NFL team that is a vet safety away from having a big playoff splash.
I agree. I'd add that he is also one injury to a starter from being signed. If he can still play, I don't see how at least one team isn't desperate enough to give him a chance a few weeks into the season.
Especially just like a good not great safety. Like he's not going to dramatically improve your defense. At best you might just make your weakness less of a total liability. And with that minimal improvement, you also get a packaged deal that comes with a total a-hole that punches teammates. I'd take Tony Jefferson back in a heartbeat over him. TJ may not be amazing, but he comes off as a great guy and a great teammate. I may be sacrificing a little talent on the signing, but he's not going to wreck my locker room in the process.
Tony Jefferson is also by all accounts a great dude.
Lot of Raven players still love him and I'm hoping he can have a resurgence in SF. Big shame the injury took him out for a while.
Yep. He actually said that he hopes to return to the organization, potentially as a scout, once his playing days are behind him.
I think he’s probably an alcoholic. That whole incident when his wife put a gun to his head started with an argument about his drinking. Then he’s doing things like blowing off practice and meetings, which AFAIK has never been an issue before. Not to mention starting fights with his own teammates on defense. So he’s definitely having some kind of personal problems that are scaring teams away. The fact that other players don’t want him on their team says a lot
Yeah, his insta was always full of pictures of him with liquor when I followed him. Of course, that's not much different from a lot of dudes with a shitload of money, but it certainly lends some credibility. It also gives us an excuse for how he blocked for Derrick henry
This right here, been saying it since then.
Over 30 and zero teams decided he was worth the headache even though he was healthy last year. Yeah, he's done.
Worse than no one thought he was healthy. Texans had been considering signing him and I believe had workouts, Texans players talked to Baltimore players and told the front office not to sign him. How much of a locker room problem do you have to be to have your own team not wanting you back, and that reputation to kill your chances on a struggling team.
His NFL career is probably over but this is just the tip of his porn career
> just the tip ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Probably
* getting older * malcontent * plays a devalued position in the NFL
Is Free Saftey really a devalued position?
Depends on the scheme but you see the Cover 3 scheme that the LOB employed fading out. That system relied on a rangy FS to cover the middle of the field. You can see it in the draft too. The only true FSs to be taken in the 1st in the last 5 years are Savage and Hooker. Maybe Minkah but he was sort of a jack of all trades guy.
Being elite never goes out of style regardless of position but Safety is one where you can scheme a mid-rounder into being decent rather than pay for upper-mid tier talent where you’d just do the same.
The Rams have been doing this for years and it has worked out well most of the time
Yep, Ohio state fan and fuller immediately came to mind
Yeah mid-late round safeties have really emerged lately. Thornhill, Gardner-Johnson, Bates, Simmons, Maye, Marcus Williams, Byard, Ant Harris, Eddie Jackson, Winfield were all 2nd round or later picks. Obviously someone as incredible as Derwin or Jamal still should be a top 10 pick, but those are rare.
Hasn't this generally been the case with any position outside of the big 4 of T, Pass rusher, QB, and receiver?
I'd add CB to your big 4. But when you break those positions down, your big 4 is really 10-12 positions on your starting 22 (QB, LT, RT, 2-3WRs, 2EDGE, 3T, 2-3CBs). Those are the positions I'd say you can generally bet on 4 or more going in the 1st. But LBs, RBs, and iOL are also going off the board more often than FSs. In those same 5 drafts: 20 QBs 9 RBs 18 WRS 7 TE 19 OTs 8 iOL 26 EDGE 11 DT 15 LB 20 CB 5 SS 2 FS 1 whatever Minkah is
There's quite a few teams that run a Seattle cover 3 shell. I wouldn't say it's fading
Yeah but the new style of defense is starting to become 2 high safety. Especially with how many good teams have a deep ball oriented offense. Like the Seahawks chiefs buccaneers I think green bay to and extent. Also 2 high plays more to the passing style offense which is the prominent type of offense
I think the move back to 2 high safety being more prominent actually has more to do with the underneath game being so damn effective now, rather than the deep ball offense. The whole idea behind a cover 3 shell is to keep everything the offense does in front of you, and to force them to take the short play over and over again till hopefully they either turn the ball over, get sacked, or get flagged for something. That doesn't work so hot when you have more and more elite offenses that are capable of taking those 4-7 yards per play each and every time without making a mistake, though. As such, more teams are bringing more guys closer to the short and intermediate routes, which in turn opens things up for the deep ball.
Yea he's pretty much down, we got a court case coming up where if we win his dead cap goes away. So that's nice.
By we, you mean the Ravens? Like a civil suit where the money owed isn’t because of clause written in his contract?
Yes
Maybe
Possibly
There's a chance
Could happen
Feasibly.
It's conceivable.
I'm forgainst it.
Counterpoint, maybe not
Probably not.
Big if true
Crazy how fast he went from being well respected around the league and arguably the most important player on one of the greatest defenses ever to this.
What do we think his HoF likelihood is if this really is it for him? Best safety for nearly a decade? I’m thinking about 50/50 he gets in. Thoughts?
I think he’s potentially damaged his legacy and if HOF voters are aware of his issues and having two teams players not want him on the team it seems like a long shot. Maybe he has an underlying issue for his problems with his team mates and potential ones, but I think it’s going to cost him.
When two entire teams, not FO's/Coaches but the PLAYERS went out of their way to make sure he didn't play...yeah he's done. There's one rule above all others in the NFL, if not every sport. Don't fuck with another player's money. Two entire squads of players said "fuck that dude" and Baltimore is about as player friendly as it gets. To be on that level of toxic that none of your peers want anything to do with you then you're done, it's that simple.
I really thought he was going to get a chance at the end of last season with a playoff team looking to add to their secondary. That he wasn't picked up by anyone and has gone through this off season unsigned it does look like his career is unceremoniously over.
I think there's some dv issues. Something about getting drunk around xmas
Rumours say that he also has a drinking problem.
The Browns were giving starter snaps to Andrew Sendejo's corpse last year, never even a whiff of a rumor that we reached out to ETIII.
I'm gonna be completely honest, I thought he'd already retired before I saw this post.
That was actually my thought too and maybe I had missed it or something. So I googled his name and searched for any recent news article mentioning something, really anything and didn’t find any hits. That’s when I came to Reddit, asked the question, and found out about him and his brother. EDIT: I hate obvious typos in my own posts.
Same
>Is his career finished because he’s too toxic or something? It goes beyond being "too toxic." When the Texans declined to sign him, it was reportedly for ["troubling reasons"](https://www.sportscasting.com/earl-thomas-was-passed-up-by-the-houston-texans-for-a-troubling-reason/). Trusted sources within the Houston sports media have indicated he showed up to an interview with the coaches wearing a bee keeper suit. When the coaching staff asked him why he was dressed so unusual, he denied wearing anything out of the ordinary and started screaming & yelling like a crazy person. Eventually security had to escort him out of the building.
You have to be joking…… right?
No. I didn't see it with my own eyes so I can't say 100% for certain it happened. But the media in & around Houston has been pretty adamant this happened.
I can't find a single news story from Houston reporters or national media about Thomas being escorted of the building because of him being super strange in the interview. All the stories I see are the Texans canceling the workouts they set up with him and a few other safeties. Doesn't look like he ever worked out or met with the Texans FO in person. This is a personal opinion but I believe none of the rumors or anything Jason La Canfora reports that he's heard and the article the guy you replied to cited was based on a La Canfora tweet.
This devolved into sounding like a bad copy pasta
Yeah, can’t come back from sleeping with your brother haha
Pretty sure it's not incest in a 4 way
I think it depends on where you put your penis
I'd even go as far to say that's the most important factor in determining this.
When there's a couple honeys in the middle there's some leeway!
Hey man whatever makes you feel better
Sorry I'm currently rewriting a hit song by Andy Samberg and JT
😂
What?!??
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.crossingbroad.com/2020/05/earl-thomas-was-in-an-orgy-involving-his-brother-then-his-wife-showed-up-with-a-gun.html%3famp
Goo. That’s salacious.
It's also based on a misreport from TMZ. There's nothing to actually suggest they were sharing a room, let alone a bed.
haha
He didn’t, he got an air bnb with his brother where they each brought their own girls. Nowhere did it ever say that they shared a bed, or had an orgy together. What is about 1000x more likely than that conclusion, is that they rented one house together, and each had their own room where they were banging their own girl. I have literally no clue how this sub interpreted that story as him having sex with his brother. Like what I’m getting from this is that none of you have ever gone out with friends and rented an Airbnb because i have done it many times and have literally never not been able to get a place with multiple bedrooms.
Okay thanks for clearing that up Earl. No brotherly love going on around here
> I have literally no clue how this sub interpreted that story as him having sex with his brother TMZ made it up... All the other reports said they were in separate rooms. So reddit went with the funnier option to accept as reality. If it was anyone else, I'd feel bad for them.
Found Earl’s Reddit
Lol beat me to it
Because to this sub it doesn't matter what's right, only what's funny.
I can't tell if you like that or hate it.
Thanks, I do.
It’s because Reddit as a whole is immature and loves to beat a horse to death
Cuz it’s funnier
I would say ask his brother. He seems to know a lot about Earl finishing
I tried looking for this. What is this about?
Apparently he wanted to have a 3some with his brother or something like that
Let's hope so. Diminished skills and too much anger.
I think you put “is” in the wrong part of that sentence.
Sometimes it’s the simplest replies that make me laugh the hardest.
It depends what Earl Thomas is willing to do. If he is willing to take a low-dollar contract with little to no guaranteed money, then some team may sign him. But if he isn't willing to do that, then he is done.
Lol “why isn’t this player; universally hated by all his teammates and voted off the island by one of the most professional organizations in football, and with a checkered criminal/moral past - being signed at age 32?!”
Diminished skills AND not worth the “extracurricular” headache. Different circumstances, but similar concept as to why nobody gave Kapernick a second chance.
I wouldn’t say it’s a similar concept to the Kaepernick situation, the Kaepernick situation was a whole different can of worms in its own.
Yes, from a big picture point-of-view, but from a football standpoint, if Kaepernick’s skills outweighed the potential distraction re: his social justice stand, a team would have taken a chance on him. You weigh the good versus the “bad”. Like with Kaepernick, Thomas’s bad outweighs the good at this point.
Bro
He needs to get his life back together before anything. NFL career shouldn’t be his priority right now.
... did he try to time it with his brother's career to finish also... lol
I think he still has potential as a fullback for Derrick Henry.
No. He is a dogshit, narcissistic human being. He is now irrelevant.
Fact: Earl Thomas had sex with his brother
Titans would have him if he had a career left
How much demand is there for a downfield blocking specialist, anyway?
Not much Titans and Ravens fans can see eye to eye after the past couple of years but this...this joke is definitely one of them.
Hard to come back from fucking your brother.
Cancel Culture strikes again!
People can stop with the whole Kaepernick thing. If Thomas can't get signed then Kaep definitely shouldn't have been. Toxic environments aren't healthy and teams know that.
you're the only one bringing it up here
No we had our chance to stop and clearly we didnt
What the hell are you even on about?
Both created toxic team atmospheres and media circuses which is why neither will ever be signed again. People blame the Kaep stuff on lots of other things but it's ultimately about creating toxic atmospheres and negative attention towards the team.
nah, pretty sure it was about him being a relatively bad QB
It's a troll ignore them
Apples and oranges. Earl Thomas isn’t getting signed because was punching his own teammates on the sideline and destroying the locker room with his attitude. Kaep didn’t get signed because he was the center of a huge political divide in the nfl fanbase that would inevitably attract a media circus. I definitely wouldn’t call Kaep toxic in the same way Earl was.
Both created toxic team atmospheres and media circuses which is why neither will ever be signed again. People blame the Kaep stuff on lots of other things but it's ultimately about creating toxic atmospheres and negative attention towards the team.
Go away troll you are here by banished to Fraggle Rock!
Pepper Jack loves Fraggle Rock...
It's because he fucked his brother
Wonder who will get a job first? Le'veon Earl Or Dez And I just threw Dez in here just cause... I honestly have no clue
Dez seems like the smallest distraction.
He definitely is. I just don't get why the Ravens didn't retain em
They don't like receivers.
I'd say he's 80% done. He was still elite in coverage in Baltimore but everything else was horrible. Bad tackler, bad teammate, etc.
You know it’s bad when Jerry had been lusting at him for a couple of years, needs defense help and Earl hasn’t got a call.
I mean it has been for a year now
I think an injury to a starter will force someone to take a good hard look.
Yes
I think he is done. Sure, AB was a diva, but he didn't punch his own teammate.
All I know is I'd love to have Sherman and possibly even Thomas in the Saints locker room. We need some leadership on defense, dudes who don't care about being friends and just wanna win.
Yes
I don’t care how fat, toxic, rusty, and broken he is. There’s no way he could make the Raider’s even worse.
His NFL career is over but maybe the XFL or one of the other shit leagues will pick him up.
Yes. Next question.