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Dori and Brock: A shame for Earl Thomas to go out on that note
Oct 1, 2018, 7:48 PM
Then-Seahawks safety Earl Thomas is carted off the field on Sept. 30, 2018 in Arizona. (AP)
(AP)
A week after calling out Seahawks safety Earl Thomas for deliberately missing practice to protest the Seahawks organization, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson and Brock Huard of 710 ESPN’s Brock and Salk had quite a new turn of events to catch up on during Dori’s Monday Monson Quarterback.
Amid mounting tension over his behavior toward his employers, Earl Thomas broke his leg in Sunday’s game against Arizona, an injury that will likely keep him off the field for the rest of the season.
As Thomas was being carted off the field, he gave a middle finger toward the Seahawks sideline.
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“It’s a shame, Brock, because he is clearly one of the greatest players in the history of this organization, and the fact that that is going to be the last visual ever of him as a Seahawk — it’s really a shame,” Dori observed.
“It was about Earl the last couple years — it was about Earl, it wasn’t about this team, it just wasn’t about the brotherhood,” Brock said. “It just wasn’t. It was going to be about Earl getting his last big deal, feeling totally disrespected that he did not get a third contract from a team that had given him, and he’d earned, almost $60 million — and he wanted more.”
Speaking to Brock and Salk on Monday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said that Thomas should not be judged too harshly, noting what a devastating moment that injury was for the player.
“People that are criticizing whatever happened don’t understand,” Carroll said. “This is an earth-shattering moment for a kid — he’s trying to play this game he loves, and all of a sudden this happens … Give him a little slack.”
Brock praised Carroll for handling the situation with dignity.
“Even when they spit in his face, even when they flip him off, even when they throw him under the bus … he just has an amazing grace and an amazing amount of compassion and empathy for them that certainly other coaches in this league, for decades and decades and decades, have not shown,” Brock said.
In the meantime, Thomas will earn $6 million more this season as per his contract. Brock pointed out that Thomas “actually saved himself” money this year — since he will no longer be skipping practice, he won’t be facing hefty fines in the millions.
Thomas is expected to recover by February 2019, Brock said, at which time, it will be interesting to see what other teams think of the safety and “whether the market is going to respect him in the way that he thinks it should.”
“I think when you become that narcissistic and it’s all about you, you forget the hundreds that are in line behind you that want that job,” Brock said.
