TERRY MOSHER
Do you wonder as I do why Earl Thomas is holding out for a contract extension? The Seahawks’ free safety is slated to make $10 million this year in final year of a four-year contract he signed in 2014 for a total of $40 million and I can’t help wondering what exactly is going on.
So I look at like this: What would happen if the Seahawks offered to sign him for four more years for an additional $56 million, starting with the 2019 season?
I’m not saying the Seahawks would do that. Thomas is 29 and that would make him 33 when the extension ran out. That is an old age for a guy who hits like a Mack Truck. The way he plays would certainly in my opinion lead to an injury or injuries that would hamper him or even force him out of the league. Most of that money would have to be guaranteed for him to sign such a deal, and I don’t think the Seahawks would do that anyway.
So what is really going on here?
I think it’s obvious. Thomas does not want to play in Seattle anymore. That shouldn’t make him a bad guy, and he is getting on a lot of nerves among Seahawks fans for holding out. I just think he has analyzed the situation and seen where almost all the Legion of Boom have been traded or retired from injuries and he would be playing with a bunch of new guys that likely aren’t nearly as good as guys like, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Byron Maxwell, Brandon Browner and, of course, Earl, the original members of the Legion of Boom.
Maxwell is still there, but the rest are gone. And the defense also has lost Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril.
So I think Thomas wants to be gone. He wants to be traded and what is going on right now is a game of chicken to see who will break first – the Seahawks or Thomas.
Thomas, I believe, isn’t going to break. He will be fined and lost game salaries and can hold out through the preseason and six games into the regular season, which is half the season (four exhibition games and six regular season games), losing a lot of money but putting pressure on the Seahawks to do something.
If he holds out into the seventh week of the regular season, the terms of his 2018 contract would roll over into 2019 and he would not be eligible for free agency until 2020. In short, 10 games into this season is as far as he can go in his holdout until it backfires on him.
So let’s say he does hold out through the first 10 games, four of them exhibition, and then comes back under this old contract. Do you think he would be a happy camper? Would the Seahawks want to deal with an unhappy Thomas? Would the fans tear into Thomas?
Bottom line, I don’t see this thing ending with Thomas playing for the Seahawks. The Seahawks will be forced to trade him. Maybe even to Dallas, which is where Thomas wants to be? That is his home.
In a way, it’s too bad. But that is the business of sports. Superstars very seldom stay with the same team through their entire career anymore (see LeBron James). They get itchy, the roster gets turned out and either they don’t like the change or they see the grass greener somewhere else.
So I say, let Thomas go. Get what you can for him and move on. Nothing lasts forever. Thomas is one of the best ever safeties, but it’s time to reset the roster and play on.
Hey, get out on the water and stay cool.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.