Earl Thomas expected to report week 1

I guess this is kind of expected, but still.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... -in-week-1

Let 'em rot... moving on.

He has zero leverage here. Grow up kid and get back to work.

Sadly, the LOB era is dead and that includes Earl.

I’m shocked. :roll:

Earl will not fold,

SoulfishHawk":11ba7y7n said:

He has zero leverage here. Grow up kid and get back to work.

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Not putting you down or anything but you have really changed your tune towards Earl in the last month. Why? You were one of the founding members of Earl's army and I figured you would support him till the end!

It's just grown tired, and he's my 2nd favorite player. But he's not above criticism. He's being incredibly selfish, and is leaving his teammates hanging, period. At this point, no need to cater to his needs. Trade him where you get the best offer, not where HE wants to go. And if they don't get an offer they like, then sit out and lose money. Nice leadership you got going there Earl. You're better than this.

SoulfishHawk":1jk60g33 said:

It's just grown tired, and he's my 2nd favorite player. But he's not above criticism. He's being incredibly selfish, and is leaving his teammates hanging, period. At this point, no need to cater to his needs. Trade him where you get the best offer, not where HE wants to go.

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Fair enough.

Earl's problem is the Kam holdout. The team folded then, and Kam ended up with a career ending injury and a contract that keeps them on the hook for years. Seems doubtful they'll do that again.

:229031_shrug:

Can't answer for Soulfish, but I'm in the same boat. I'm a huge fan of Thomas and what he brought to the team. The only elite Seahawks jersey I own boasts #29 and a Super Bowl XLVIII Patch cookie on the left shoulder. I firmly believe that he was the lynch pin of the LOB, and without him, the LOB would never have been more than an average secondary, and we never would have won a SB.

But, at this point, Thomas can FOAD for all I care. He's being selfish and extremely stupid. He's never been the brightest tool in the shed. There is zero reason for, or chance of, the Hawks negotiating. They have literally nothing to lose by just ignoring him, because we aren't contending this year.

If he is stubborn, then the best thing he can hope for is a season ender to a potential Super Bowl contending safety like John Johnson, or Andrew Sendejo. That's the only way I see another team paying the asking price. Otherwise, he is stuck in permanent limbo where he either plays for the Hawks, under the current contract, or he never plays again.

Used to love the guy. Still think he is one of the 5 best free safeties to ever play the game, but his behavior is souring me. He is putting himself above the team. Ironically, he isn't really hurting the team at all. We are in a rebuild year, and he is just giving us prime NFL regular season time to audition and train his eventual replacement. We wouldn't be doing that if he was active.

Do Earl and Lev Bell have the same agent?
Really wish they would have traded him during the draft.
Hope they can still get something decent for him and move on already.

And this is a HUGE opportunity for the front office to stand their ground and send a message to guys who have future problems w/their contracts. They did cave in like someone already mentioned in the past, and they have to set a different standard. The players can't just dictate everything. I'm all for players getting all they can etc. But.....when someone signs a big contract and is happy w/it at the time, and a few years later is acting disrespected? Meh, seems pretty weak. He's an incredible player, we all know that. But it seems he or his agent has put MUCH too high of a bar on what they think he's going to get.

toffee":22pg5ddn said:

Earl will not fold,

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Yeah, we will see when he starts missing those fat game checks.

FlyingGreg":hj7uxsif said:

toffee":hj7uxsif said:

Earl will not fold,

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Yeah, we will see when he starts missing those fat game checks.

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Exactly. Earl will fold for certain he has to. I'm guessing he could easily be mistaken for a cheap Walmart lawn chair by week 8.

Seymour":2fhuzcgs said:

FlyingGreg":2fhuzcgs said:

toffee":2fhuzcgs said:

Earl will not fold,

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Yeah, we will see when he starts missing those fat game checks.

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Exactly. Earl will fold for certain he has to. I'm guessing he could easily be mistaken for a cheap Walmart lawn chair by week 8.

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If he doesn't report this year, he will still be under contract to the Seahawks next year. I believe he has to be in by game 8 or 10 for the year to count.

There is a pretty good opportunity for Earl here, whether you like it or not.

If the secondary turns into a dumpster fire, and it looks pretty pedestrian right now, then if Earl comes back later - and the secondary suddenly gets better? Earl gets the credit.

Not saying it will happen because we have seen Earl struggle without Kam in there before. But if it does, it will help Earl make a strong case to other teams he is worth it. Meanwhile, Earl gets to heal up from nagging injuries that most starting players have to deal with.

Either way, Earl's loyalty has to be to himself. Being loyal to the team is stupid, unless you are a QB. The NFL has proven this repeatedly. Expecting him to be loyal to the team is ridiculous.

The LOB was one of the primary reasons we got to the SB and won it. Earl was a pivotal part of that. So I don't care what he does. He earned the right since he delivered the SB to us.

I do find it funny that people complain about paying Kam or Earl, when they watch our FO squander big dollars on garbage FAs that rarely work out. If we just don't make dumb decisions to bring in Joekel and Lacey (among other dumpster fire FAs), then paying your defensive players becomes much more tenable.

Not now, of course, but we have a lot of years of missed opportunities that we gave up to keep that stance. Meanwhile, writing big checks to Harvin, Graham, etc.

I don't see that Thomas can get what he is asking from us. But I also know after years of propping this team up with a defense offsetting a garbage offense - he earned the right to try. I am Team ET all the way.

I'd be pissed if this went the duration and then tried to come back after 10 weeks, to preserve his contract year, is there anything the team could do to prevent that?

You call it Loyal to himself. I call it being money hungry and selfish.

It doesn't help that both Mack and Donald held out, and both got what they wanted.

I'm sure Earl and his agent think that's what's going to happen with him, but IMO he doesn't have the same leverage as these players as far as being at a position of need or health questions.

The good news for us is the Bears just gave up two first rounders for Mack, so that solidifies the high asking price for Earl. If any team is serious about trading for him, they can no longer lowball the Hawks.