Earl Thomas presents a real interesting debate for Kansas City Chiefs

Should the Chiefs make a play to sign Earl Thomas?

Given the level of interest the Kansas City Chiefs have made clear in the recent past to sign safety Earl Thomas, it feels very safe to at least assume the team is having intense, internal conversations about what to do with the newly released safety.

In case you missed the news of the weekend in the National Football League, seven-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas was released by the Baltimore Ravens over the weekend after he got into a fight with a teammate, fellow safety Chuck Clark.

This wasn’t just about the fight however. Thomas’s own teammates apparently wanted him off the team. Rumors point to a player-led leadership council that pressured the franchise to cut ties with the safety, despite the fact that it would hurt their financials going forward. Thomas was only in year two of a four-year agreement reached just last spring, a deal worth up to $55 million.

The idea of any team being keen to sign an aging player who just got kicked off of a winning team by his own teammates—in so many words—is normally a bad idea from any angle. However, there are some interesting branches on this tree that need to be laid out before dismissing any idea out of hand.

First of all, there are two sides to every story and that includes this one. While he deleted the post, Thomas did post this and NFL reporter Tom Pelissero captured it, an attempt to explain his side.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, the Chiefs have demonstrated considerable interest in Earl Thomas in two consecutive seasons. In 2018 they emerged as a rumored suitor before the NFL trade deadline when the Seahawks were actively shopping Thomas around the league. The Dallas Cowboys were also involved in those same rumors, but nothing official ever came from it.

Just last offseason, the Chiefs actually believed they had a deal with Earl Thomas worked out. As the safety himself described the events, it was a short-term deal with the parameters essentially in place before Baltimore came in and shocked everyone with an aforementioned deal of that scope.

It’s hard to believe the Chiefs would so easily dismiss the idea of adding Earl Thomas at this stage. That’s not to say that they are going to sign him, but the Chiefs already likely have a mountain of homework on Thomas—his abilities as a player at this stage in his career, what his coaches and teammates say about him personally, what he’s like in the locker room and in the community. This latest incident would mar some of that, but they were comfortable enough to sign him before after vetting him all the same.

As for a fit right now, Thomas made a lot more sense before the team signed Tyrann Mathieu and drafted Juan Thornhill. When a “week to week” Eric Berry and an aging Ron Parker are your starting options, Earl Thomas looks like an unearthed diamond. Now the Chiefs have young depth who’ve proven capable of winning a championship together. Where does Thomas fall into that mix?

What if the Chiefs like what they hear from others? What if Thomas has a legitimate side of his own story? What if the Ravens were just a bad fit? What if Thomas is willing to come into town on a one-year contract? What if Thomas is motivated to behave like a saint in order to hit the free agent market next spring?

These are all legitimate questions that make it difficult to believe there’s an easy answer to whether or not the Chiefs should bring in Thomas.