Earl Thomas Interview

[keasley45]

My money is on him being diagnosed with CTE after he passes.

100%

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

I assume the interviewer didn't ask him about giving Pete the finger? If not, I'm not watching a softball interview.

She did. He said he was mad and didn't know what was next with his contract stuff and that he thinks him and Pete are good now.

He says he also talks to Russell Wilson regularly.

 

[toffee]

She did. He said he was mad and didn't know what was next with his contract stuff and that he thinks him and Pete are good now.

He says he also talks to Russell Wilson regularly.

Umm, if one would to read in between the lines, he ain't talking to Kam and Sherm regularly, or Bobby?

 

[Rat]

Umm, if one would to read in between the lines, he ain't talking to Kam and Sherm regularly, or Bobby?

He was probably asked specifically about Russ.

 

[bileever]

Legendary player--a great safety for the LOB, amazing speed and football instincts. And remember how he could return punts?

Earl Thomas 59-Yard Punt Return

I feel bad for him because his trajectory could have been different. But he had a level of delusion and egomania that he couldn't overcome. Like Russell Wilson, he put himself above the team (not just in Seattle but in Baltimore, too) and couldn't see where that would lead him.

I think those personality issues also caused his personal life to implode. He clearly didn't value his wife and family as he should have. Great player, but ultimately a sad and tragic figure.

 

[Atradees]

I thought the LOB was a collective thing. Brandon Browner, Kam, Sherman, Byron Maxwell, Earl....the collisions, the footballs popping out.
It was a beautiful thing.
I never liked Earl as well after the bizarre wedding dressing him self up like a king or whatever. I could tell he thought he was all that.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Umm, if one would to read in between the lines, he ain't talking to Kam and Sherm regularly, or Bobby?

He listed some. KJ was one and I think he mentioned Sherman, Bennett, Avril and Justin Forsett

 

[Appyhawk]

all the craziness that was the end of his career

I think the gracious way to say it is ET's fall from grace was entirely his own doings.

 

[DJ_CJ]

Without Earl, nobody knows who Kam Chancellor is today.

Without Kam, Earl is still the best safety of his generation.

Really no question of who was better and more important to the success of the LOB.

No one has ever said in comparisons between him and Kam in correlation to natural talent. Kam was the captain and enforcer. Earl was a beast but let’s not forget he washed out of the league.

 

[Natethegreat]

Legendary player--a great safety for the LOB, amazing speed and football instincts. And remember how he could return punts?

Earl Thomas 59-Yard Punt Return

I feel bad for him because his trajectory could have been different. But he had a level of delusion and egomania that he couldn't overcome. Like Russell Wilson, he put himself above the team (not just in Seattle but in Baltimore, too) and couldn't see where that would lead him.

I think those personality issues also caused his personal life to implode. He clearly didn't value his wife and family as he should have. Great player, but ultimately a sad and tragic figure.

Richard Sherman is a better Comp. Both those guys think the world revolves around them and have multiple times shown disregard for everyone but themselves. The ego in the LOB was very very strong from those two.

 

[bigskydoc]

That was a little hard to listen too. He wants to share his message. Then he thinks he has shared his message. But he hasn’t really said anything, he just showed up.

She keeps trying to pry it out of him, but he just can’t express whatever it is he wants to express.

Just painful.

 

[bileever]

Richard Sherman is a better Comp. Both those guys think the world revolves around them and have multiple times shown disregard for everyone but themselves. The ego in the LOB was very very strong from those two.

Well, Richard Sherman was luckier than Earl. He made a few mistakes and even went through a tough mental health situation, but came out smelling like a rose. His post-playing future looks rosy, compared to Earl's. I think Richard is smarter and more articulate than Earl, for one thing. Earl doesn't have the people or communication skills to do TV or to coach, as he says he wants to do.

 

[toffee]

Well, Richard Sherman was luckier than Earl. He made a few mistakes and even went through a tough mental health situation, but came out smelling like a rose. His post-playing future looks rosy, compared to Earl's. I think Richard is smarter and more articulate than Earl, for one thing. Earl doesn't have the people or communication skills to do TV or to coach, as he says he wants to do.

Since he wants to coach, he can follow the examples set by other NFL players, and start coaching high school, or college.

 

[Fresno Hawk]

Wow, he has serious mental problems. Someone needs to get him to the Doctors quick. He clearly has brain issues.

 

[Rat]

Earl was a beast but let’s not forget he washed out of the league.

With another team. He was phenomenal from day 1 here and had a very good first year with the Ravens before father time finally hit. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything anyway. Even Canton is full of players who eventually didn't have it anymore. We don't know what the final season of Kam's career might have been like because he got hurt and had to retire young. I think there's a good chance Kam would have looked MUCH different on another team that didn't allow him the luxuries he had here.

 

[Sprfunk]

This may have been the hardest interview I've seen in a while. It was really hard to finish. He is delusional, and talks to people through his prayers and the TV. He wants to coach, but can't finish a thought process. He feels that he won Superbowls with a team he didn't play for. He wants a retired jersey in the stands for a team that he didn't play well for. I hope the new rules dealing with safety help head injuries... but I'm not convinced. If we don't see a drastic change in the number of players coming up with life-altering brain issues this sport will die, perhaps deservedly so.
I can't watch players end up like this and in good conscious continue watching.

 

[BigMeach]

I'll preface this with saying it's sincere and in no way sarcasm.

Is this CTE? I don't remember Earl talking this way before. It's like a different person than I remember. Not talking about the arrogance just the speech patterns in general. Minus the parts where he is gloating about himself I barely understand what he is saying.

 

[Seahawks fan]

I think the gracious way to say it is ET's fall from grace was entirely his own doings.

Why?.. Do you know his story?... I watched that man come up slower & slower after each hit he made in his career and cte could be a reason he ended the way he did... brain damage is a real thing dude..

 

[Hawkstorian]

I loved watching ET play for the Seahawks and I'll just leave it there.

 

[bigskydoc]

Thomas was never a particularly great speaker, nor has he ever struck me as one of the sharper tools in the shed.

When he was at Texas, I remember thinking he couldn't really keep a train of thought, but mostly responded with simple platitudes, and had to be guided through interviews.

I couldn't find any vids from before he joined the Hawks, but here is one from 2014, not the best example as it is one of his better interviews. Still, he isn't leading the discussion at all, or even carrying the conversation. He just responds to interviewers that are skilled at leading him through the conversation. He could never have done a Sherman style podcast.



Here was his attempt at a podcast style of presentation. It's... ok. Certainly not engaging.



So, I'm not sure how much of this is CTE, and how much is just Earl, the prototypical dumb jock.