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Ravens Cut Earl Thomas

Earl Thomas was not making friends in Baltimore camp, and got into a fight with the other starting safety, Chris Clark. And so, the Ravens cut him today. The language of the release: "We have terminated S Earl Thomas’ contract for personal conduct that has adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens." That suggests the Ravens will be filing a grievance and going after some of Thomas' guaranteed money. Thomas is now free to sign elsewhere and there are already rumors linking him to Dallas. The Ravens will replace Thomas in the starting lineup with 2018 sixth-rounder DeShon Elliott, though they can also use one of their cornerbacks (Jimmy Smith?) at free safety.

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Comments

18 comments, Last at 04 Sep 2020, 8:51pm

1 I'll be curious to see how…

by theslothook // Aug 23, 2020 - 12:50pm

I'll be curious to see how good Earl Thomas is at this stage of his career. He seems to have attitude problems, though I would love to see him in Indianapolis.

2 This could be important for projections

by ImNewAroundThe… // Aug 23, 2020 - 2:16pm

Cutting your starting S 3 weeks before week 1. 2nd most defensive snaps at a valuable position should hurt expectations. Chiefs are probably thrilled. 

11 I still don't really get it…

I still don't really get it. He had a couple dust-ups with teammates and missed a few meetings - not great, obviously, but that doesn't seem to be the sort of stuff a future HoFer gets cut for. As Thomas himself noted in his statements, it's unusual that something like this gets leaked to the media - which suggests the team is using the incident as "political" cover to justify a decision they had already made.

I suppose the simplest explanation is that he's declined to the point that he's just not worth the headaches anymore, although I thought he played well last year? Otherwise, it definitely seems like there's something odd going on behind the scenes.

14 Sure

by ImNewAroundThe… // Aug 31, 2020 - 10:02am

But it might be hard to just replace him, especially on such short notice.

7 Belichick Welcomes You, Mr. Thomas

by RobotBoy // Aug 24, 2020 - 6:05am

Sounds like the perfect candidate for a one-year 'prove it' deal at the NFL's Island of Misfit Toys. That secondary would be ridiculous with Thomas on board.

10 With Chung having opted out…

With Chung having opted out of the season, and New England flush with cap space, I don't see any way the Patriots haven't reached out to see if they could work out a deal.  Especially since Baltimore is already on the hook for 10 million, minus the new contract (pending arbitration).