Any idea of bringing in Earl Thomas, or someone like him, is now over for the Kansas City Chiefs after he suffered a season-ending injury.
For the last few weeks, the question surrounding Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas was about where he would be playing for the long-term. After Sunday’s action, the question surrounding Thomas is more about when after he suffered a broken leg on Sunday.
Thomas was carted off the field in the fourth quarter of Sunday afternoon’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. The official word was Thomas went down with a “fractured lower left leg,” and the safety is expected to be placed on injured reserve. It’s a horrible twist for all parties involved given that Thomas has been wanting a trade away from Seattle or an extension from the team. Either way, any and all plans regarding Thomas are now on hold.
Thomas has been very vocal about his frustration with his current contract and his wishes for a new long-term deal. Seattle has not given in to Thomas’s demands for more security, and Thomas has sat out several practices in between games to make his wishes known.
The Kansas City Chiefs have been mentioned as potential players in any trade for Thomas, who has been on the block for months from Seattle. The problem on Seattle’s part is that they’ve held onto their asset for the highest possible price—demanding more than a second round choice in the 2019 NFL Draft. Most recently, the reported price was two second round picks for the aging safety, a price that teams obviously sneered at.
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Now all teams involved have a problem. Seattle general manager John Schneider has now lost any value in an asset that will not at all be back next season. Even if he’d bitten the bullet and taken a single second round pick, that would have been much, much better than waiting for a moment like this. Thomas was already a locker room cancer and a distraction for a young team that everyone knew needed to move on.
On the other side of that coin, Thomas screwed himself in this picture. He’s become a demanding me-first player who was literally caught giving his sideline the finger on his way to the locker room as he was carted off of the field. Now his age is going to be highlighted alongside the fact that he’s endured two season-ending injuries in the last three years. Despite the talent or history, will any team in the NFL be willing to give him the long-term deal at this point? (The answer is no.)
As for the Chiefs, even they lose on this whole endeavor. If their wishes were to wait out the Seahawks and hope to get Thomas for cheaper as time went on, that possibility is now over. With the loss of any Thomas deal goes any wish to also enhance your secondary in such a significant way.
Let’s make this clear. There is not a single player available on the open market or on any trade block who can make even a fraction of the impact that Earl Thomas could have made with the Chiefs. That doesn’t mean he was worth the price being demanded. It’s just an acknowledgement that if the Chiefs were hoping to eventually fix their problems in the secondary with an All Pro, those days are now over. In the meantime, even other options at safety and cornerback have been accounted for, which means the shelves are fairly bare at this time of year.
With a single injury report, one player and two teams now find themselves in a very disappointing position. If the Seahawks had only been willing to take a lower price, they’d have an asset for themselves. If the Chiefs would have paid the piper, perhaps Thomas doesn’t get injured and is instead a healthy addition to a wounded secondary. And for Thomas, if he’d at least played the role of good citizen, he’d look a bit better as a long-term investment.
Instead, with a single play, the dreams of a lot of people came crashing down.