Which NFL teams should try to trade for Earl Thomas?

Earl Thomas is pushing the Seattle Seahawks into a corner. His elite play through the first three weeks of the season is making him more valuable than ever, but the Seahawks can’t continue to be fine with the safety’s refusal to be a reliable participant in practice.

While Seahawks coach Pete Carroll hasn’t ruled out an extension for Thomas, if the team chooses not to pay up for the six-time Pro Bowler it could have to deal with an entire season of Thomas showing his discontent.

Although Thomas practiced more this week than last, the NFL’s trade deadline is just a month away — and there are a few teams that could use the boost Thomas would give their defense. But trading for Thomas won’t be cheap.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Seahawks are “stuck” on their asking price of a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Dallas Cowboys’ offer of a second-round pick was turned down by the Seahawks just before the season began, but part of Seattle’s hesitation was that the teams were set to play in Week 3.

The Seahawks won’t give away Thomas for nothing, but the safety has leveraged the team into decision-making time.

Here are four teams that could be good match for Thomas, if a trade ends up happening.

The issues for the struggling Cowboys are mostly on the offensive side of the ball, but their No. 3 ranked defense could certainly use more turnovers. Dallas is one of just two teams that hasn’t yet recorded an interception in 2018. As it so happens, the Cowboys got to helplessly watch Thomas cook them to the tune of two picks in Week 3.

Adding a ball hawk like Thomas to the secondary was a good enough idea that the Cowboys were offering a lot before the season started.

With the game against the Cowboys in the rearview mirror, Seattle may be more willing to take that same offer now.

Thomas is a Texas native who walked into the locker room after a game in December 2017 to talk to coach Jason Garrett. Thomas told reporters he told Garrett “when Seattle kicks me to the curb, please — the Cowboys — come get me.”

The Cowboys coaches seem to think a deal can get done. Either that, or they were messing with Thomas when they told him Sunday that a trade was imminent.

If Dallas does want to get a trade done, expect it to happen sooner rather than later.

Patrick Mahomes is the real deal and the Chiefs have reason to dream big. Super Bowl big.

The problem is that it’s difficult to trust their lackluster defense. The Chiefs have allowed a league-worst 1,422 yards through three weeks and have forced just two turnovers.

Keep scoring about 40 points a week and that won’t be a problem, but that’s an unrealistic pace for any team to keep. So the rumor from Week 3 that the Chiefs were considering adding Thomas made plenty of sense.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid seemed to shut down that thought, though.

“I know the rumors are out there but that’s not where we’re at,” Reid said the next day, via ESPN.

If Kansas City does decide to go after Thomas, it has two second-round picks in 2019 to work with, thanks to the trade of Marcus Peters.

The Falcons offense is back to scoring points, but the defense is lagging behind. Injuries to Keanu Neal, Deion Jones, and Ricardo Allen are a huge part of that issue, and have sapped the Atlanta defense of much of its speed.

Prior to taking the head coaching job in Atlanta, Dan Quinn spent two years as the defensive coordinator in Seattle. Those were two of the three seasons for Thomas that ended with first-team All-Pro nods.

A reunion makes sense, although the Falcons don’t have a lot of cap room to work with or any extra draft picks to make deal easier. Maybe that’s why Quinn doused the flames before they even ignited.

Still, if the Falcons made the trade it’d make them much more competitive in the tight NFC South race, especially after the Panthers signed free agent safety Eric Reid.

This one is definitely a long shot, but Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com and Nick Wright of Fox Sports have both proposed the idea of swapping Thomas and Le’Veon Bell.

Bell still hasn’t reported to the Steelers after consecutive franchise tags essentially guaranteed he’ll be a free agent in 2019. His refusal to show up has now opened up the Steelers to the idea of a trade. Bell’s an elite running back and offensive weapon, but Pittsburgh was always wary of investing a record-breaking amount in a running back.

The Steelers may be more willing to pay up for an elite safety, though. The team made Troy Polamalu the highest-paid safety in the NFL and highest-paid Steelers player ever with a contract extension in 2007, and then reaped the benefits of the deal for years.

Pittsburgh is near the bottom of the NFL in points and yards allowed, and needs better defensive play if it hopes to make another run in the postseason.

The issue with the idea is that the Seahawks probably don’t want to make a huge investment in a running back just five months after picking Rashaad Penny in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

The frontrunners for a trade are clearly the Cowboys and the Chiefs, if a deal happens at all.