Earl Thomas Preparing To Hold Out Into Season, Barring Trade Or Extension

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that there’s a belief around the league that, unless he gets a new deal or trade, Seahawks S Earl Thomas is preparing to sit out through training camp and into the regular season.

Yesterday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Seahawks are not ready to give Thomas the kind of contract extension he’s seeking. Rapoport mentioned that the three-year, $36M extension Seattle gave to S Kam Chancellor last year could factor into the team’s reluctance to hand out another big-money deal.

Last week, Thomas posted on his Instagram that he wants a contract extension or to be traded before the upcoming season. He has held out of offseason workouts up to this point, so it will be interesting to see how this situation plays out in the next month or so.

If the Seahawks are to trade Thomas, the Cowboys are clearly a team worth keeping an eye on, seeing as the two teams reportedly discussed potential deals leading up to and during the draft. However, Dallas wasn’t willing to part with the kind of draft compensation Seattle was looking for in return for him.

Thomas, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2010. He’s entering the final year of his five-year, $44.725 million contract that includes $27.725 million guaranteed and stands to make a base salary of $8.5 million for the 2018 season.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Thomas would free up $8.5 million of available cap space while creating $1.9 million in dead money.

In 2017, Thomas has appeared in 14 games and recorded 88 tackles, two interceptions with one being returned for a touchdown, a forced fumble and seven pass defenses. ProFootballFocus rated him as the No. 9 overall safety out of 86 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding the Seahawks and Thomas as the news is available.