On Earl Thomas’ second interception of the game Sunday, he turned to the Dallas Cowboys sideline and bowed. It was just the second time in his career he finished a game with two picks, and the latter was a nail in the coffin for the Cowboys — ending their last promising drive of the day to preserve the Seattle Seahawks’ 24-13 win.
Earl Thomas is forcing the Seahawks or another team to pay him what he’s worth
The Seahawks were backed into a corner by Thomas’ brilliant week.
Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images
No player on the field in Seattle on Sunday had more to prove than Thomas, and no player had a better day.
Thomas, 29, has been an elite NFL safety for nearly a decade now. The No. 14 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft was an immediate starter as a rookie and, by 2011, was a stalwart on the NFC’s Pro Bowl roster.
It earned him a four-year, $40 million extension in the 2014 offseason, but now he’s about six months away from becoming a free agent. He’s been angling for a new contract for a while now, but the Seahawks have inexplicably played hardball with their star defensive back, despite the fact that he’s clearly the best player on that side of the ball.
When Thomas reluctantly reported to practice before the season started after a lengthy holdout, he posted on social media that “the disrespect has been well noted and will not be forgotten.”
Thomas has responded by forcing their hand. He’s skipping practices, or just quitting in the middle of them, and balling out when he’s on the field. On Monday night, he posted on Instagram “Somebody gonna write the check.”
He’s right. Thomas is going to get his money, whether it’s this year or the next — or if it’s with the Seahawks or another team.
“Holding in” may be the most effective contract strategy we’ve seen
Generally speaking, there have been two ways to land a big contract when a team is hesitant to pay up.
One is to show up and play great. Think Kirk Cousins, who strung together three consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons in Washington, which kept the pressure on the team to either pay a premium price or lose him. It ended up landing Cousins a fully guaranteed deal with the Vikings worth $84 million over the next three years.
The other strategy is to be a pain in the ass. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and forcing a team to deal with your discontent has worked for some players. Holding out the entire offseason got Aaron Donald a six-year, $135 million contract with the Rams, and it got Khalil Mack sent to the Bears, where he promptly received a six-year, $141 million deal.
Le’Veon Bell’s holdout still hasn’t ended while he preps for the free agency market in 2019.
But Thomas is doing both. Behold, the strategy of “holding in”.
“It’s almost like he’s holding out while he’s there in the facility,” Jay Glazer of Fox Sports said Sunday. “He shows up to practice Friday and then, in the middle of practice, he just stops practicing, sits down right there on the sideline, and doesn’t practice again. He shows up late that day, shows up late yesterday to their walkthrough.”
Here it is in Thomas’ words:
That sounds like enough to make a team pretty angry with their player, and yet, Thomas started in Week 3. He may end up getting fined by the team for conduct detrimental, but he was one of five Seahawks defenders who was on the field for all 61 of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps.
Why didn’t Seattle sit Thomas to make a point? Because he’s really, really good, of course.
Thomas picked a great time to play ridiculously well
A “hold in” wouldn’t work if Thomas struggled. It’s only effective because he’s far from replaceable.
Put another player in the Seattle secondary Sunday, and there’s a good chance the Seahawks are 0-3 now. Put Thomas at safety for the Cowboys instead, and Dallas probably doesn’t finish minus-three in the turnover margin against the Seahawks.
Thomas wants to be paid like the best safety in the league, and he’s played like it all year.
It has pushed the Seahawks to the breaking point. The team doesn’t have much choice but to finally invest in Thomas and get him to fully buy in, or send him to another team that’ll do that instead.
A trade seems increasingly likely as the Oct. 30 deadline inches closer. The Seahawks parted ways with other defensive players like Richard Sherman, Sheldon Richardson, and Michael Bennett in the offseason, while trade rumors about Thomas swirled. They also haven’t made much of an effort to get a deal done with Thomas.
It still won’t be cheap to acquire the safety, though. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, “Seattle needs to be blown away” to make the trade.
His frustrations aren’t new, either. A year ago, Thomas marched into the Cowboys’ locker room after a December game and told coach Jason Garrett “If y’all got the chance to come get me, come get me.”
A deal with the Cowboys reportedly came close to coming together, but fell apart just before the season started.
That was the motivation for his bow to the sideline, seconds after ripping their hearts out.
There’s a big gulf for the Seahawks to suddenly bridge, but that’s not an impossible scenario either.
But no matter how things shake out, Thomas has played things perfectly and it has the Seahawks backed into a corner.
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