Pete Carroll coaching up rookie Earl Thomas is a blast from the past

Pete Carroll coaching up rookie Earl Thomas is a blast from the past

We can debate about a lot of things. It is what makes sports so fun and interesting. But one thing we can all find a consensus on is this: Pete Carroll is/was the best coach in the history of the Seattle Seahawks. His unique, player-focused style is truly unrivaled. Every so often, we get a glimpse at him in his element. Such is the case with this now-vintage footage of him talking to Earl Thomas.

Thomas was one of the best defensive players of the 2010’s, period. His elite speed and power punished NFL offenses week in, week out. But he had to grow into this role, channeling raw talent and skill into dominance. Fortunately, he had a quality mentor in Coach Carroll.

Of course, the caption in the tweet above is a bit misleading. Nothing Carroll said was tough or brutal, just simply a brilliant mentor teaching his young star. The Seahawks won the featured game 27-20, and the victory proved pivotal as Seattle would go on to win the NFC West with a 7-9 record.

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Seahawks share cartoon tribute to Pete Carroll that leaves out Earl Thomas

One face that isn’t included is that of Earl Thomas, who was arguably the best player on an all-time great defense.

The Seahawks shared a cartoon tribute to Pete Carroll last week on social media and then later deleted it. The cartoon includes a bunch of players from today’s team, including Bobby Wagner, Geno Smith, Devon Witherspoon, JSN, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Quandre Diggs, Jason Myers and Nick Bellore.

There are also a bunch of legends from the Legion of Boom days, including Russell Wilson, Red Bryant, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Baldwin.

via Seahawks

One face that isn’t included is that of three-time All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas, who was arguably the best player on an all-time great defense.

It was an ugly split between ET and the front office, but there’s no reason to erase him from history like this. Deleting it was the right call.

Update:

Welp, the team has shared the cartoon again. Still no Earl Thomas.

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Cliff Avril tells a story about Earl Thomas snapping on him at practice

Watch.

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The Seattle Seahawks in their peak Legion of Boom days were the most entertaining and compelling group of athletes in the world. One reason they were so dominant was an unparalleled intensity. Sometimes that high motor resulted in clashes behind the scenes, though.

Earlier this week Cliff Avril was a guest on K.J. Wright’s podcast and he told a story about Earl Thomas snapping on him for eating sunflower seeds during a walkthrough practice. Watch.

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Quandre Diggs ranked near the top of this list of the NFL’s best safeties

Those in the know see an elite back-end defender, though.

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Quandre Diggs flew under the radar in Detroit, as many great players seem to do. However, since getting traded to Seattle Diggs has been impossible to ignore. No other safety in the league is a better ball-hawk right now and he’s earned three straight trips to the Pro Bowl for his efforts.

Diggs is more than just an All-Star these days, though. Those in the know see that he’s developed into an elite back-end defender. That includes Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire, who’s begun his annual NFL positional rankings lists, starting with the safeties. Diggs came in at No. 2 on his list. Only Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Steelers ranked higher.

“Over the last two seasons (1,078 in 2021 and 1,012 in 2022), Quandre Diggs lined up at free/deep safety on 2,090 snaps, by far the most in the NFL… Yes, Diggs’ overall stats were great (10 catches allowed on 21 targets for 135 yards, 62 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 60.7), but you really have to separate him from everyone else in the NFL at his position as a deep defender.”

For Diggs to recover the way he has (he says he couldn’t even cut six weeks before the 2022 season began) and return to a high level of play only a few months after breaking his leg is mind-blowing stuff. Hats off to No. 6, who’s easily the best free safety this franchise has had not named Earl Thomas.

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Ravens trade S Chuck Clark to Jets

The Ravens have agreed to trade safety Chuck Clark to the Jets

The Baltimore Ravens are looking at plenty of roster changes as the 2023 offseason rolls along. They will almost certainly need to either restructure, extend, cut or trade a few of their contributors from 2022 in order to get under the cap, which is what they did on Thursday

Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported the news that the Baltimore is trading safety Chuck Clark to the New York Jets for a 2024 seventh-round pick.  The move will help out the Ravens from a salary cap perspective as they need as much money as possible to make moves, but they lose one of their most consistent contributors on defense.

The trade can’t be made official until Wednesday, March 15th, when the new league year starts, but the trade has been agreed upon. Without Clark on the defense, it seems like second-year safety Kyle Hamilton will be thrust into a bigger role moving forward.

Clark, a sixth-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft out of Virginia Tech was a solid piece for the Ravens defense.  He stepped up big time when the Ravens released safety Earl Thomas. In his career in Baltimore, Clark played in 96 games, had 384 total tackles, three and a half sacks, five interceptions with one of those being a pick six. All in all, Chuck Clark epitomized the “Play Like A Raven” mantra.

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Seahawks re-sign RB Wayne Gallman to practice squad

Seattle still had an open spot on the practice squad, even after re-signing defensive tackle Jarrod Hewitt.

The Seahawks announced three roster moves yesterday afternoon, including moving defensive tackle Bryan Mone to the injured reserve list.

Seattle still had an open spot on the practice squad, even after re-signing defensive tackle Jarrod Hewitt. So, they’ve filled the opening by re-signing running back Wayne Gallman. He signed with the Seahawks two weeks ago and then was released six days ago to make room for wide receiver Jaylen Smith. Gallman was spotted at practice wearing Earl Thomas’ old No. 29.

The Seahawks probably wouldn’t have brought Gallman back if they felt good abouy rookie running back Ken Walker playing this weekend against the Chiefs. Walker was back on the injury report yesterday with an ankle issue and was one of seven players who did not participate.

A fourth-round pick by the Giants in the 2017 NFL draft, Gallman has played in 61 NFL games all together, totaling 1,548 rushing yards and nine touchdowns.

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Home of former NFL DB Earl Thomas ‘total loss’ after fire

One of the homes of former NFL DB Earl Thomas is a total loss after a fire in Texas

One of the Texas homes of former NFL defensive back Earl Thomas was destroyed Thursday after a fire.

The blaze started in the late afternoon in Orange, Texas, and when firefighters arrived the heavy smoke and flames were too much to try and handle.

Orange Fire Department Deputy Chief Payton Smith says Thomas told the battalion chief that at about 5 p.m. he heard a popping sound, like the sound of lightning hitting his home. Thomas said he and two other family members at the home saw smoke and got out quickly.

Chief Matt Manshack with Little Cypress Fire and Orange County ESD 4 told 12newsnow the fighters went into “defensive mode.”

“When we arrived on scene the guys, the firefighter crew went in found heavy fire conditions in that corner. We’re unable to get it under control quickly. With the size of the structure the choice was made by them to go ahead and pull out and just go defensive with it,” he said.

Reports indicated the fire could have been started by a lightning strike as storms were in the area at the time but an investigation is underway.

“There’s 100 different things that could have happened,” Manshack said. “There was a storm that rolled through here, so we’re looking into that.”

Smith calls it the largest residential fire in terms of monetary damage in the city’s history.

Thomas starred at the University of Texas before playing 10 NFL seasons, nine with Seattle and one with Baltimore.

He has been out of the NFL since 2019.

Seahawks have had 2 of the top 10 draft classes since 2006, says PFF

The Seattle Seahawks nearly built a dynasty in the early years of the Pete Carroll and John Schneider era.

The Seattle Seahawks nearly built a dynasty in the early years of the Pete Carroll and John Schneider era. A lot of factors went into the greatness of the peak Legion of Boom teams. The most important one was the organization’s ability to navigate the NFL draft far better than their 31 competitors.

Seattle’s first draft under Carroll and Schneider built the foundation for those teams. The 2010 class netted Earl Thomas, Russell Okung, Golden Tate and Kam Chancellor. Two years later the team struck gold again, getting Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Bruce Irvin. According to Pro Football Focus, those two classes are among the top 10 overall since 2006.

New Orleans’ 2017 class is undeniably special, but in our opinion Seattle’s 2012 group should be No. 1.

Sadly, all the players from these two great classes are gone. Schneider and Carroll will have to make lightning strike twice in order to build another championship contender.

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Quandre Diggs explains how new Seahawks defense will help him and Jamal Adams

The Seahawks have been blessed with two sensational starting safety combos during the Pete Carroll era.

The Seahawks have been blessed with two sensational starting safety combos during the Pete Carroll era. It’ll be a long time before any team matches the might of prime Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, but today’s iteration of Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams is no pushover. Having those two patrol the back end of a fresh and different defensive scheme is one of many reasons for fans to feel hopeful about this unit in 2022.

Here’s Diggs describing how the new defense will help both him and Adams, per Brady Henderson at ESPN.

“I think it’s going to help both of us… I think guys can’t automatically tag [Adams] and say he’s in the box and he’s blitzing and slide his way. I’ve always learned from the different quarterbacks that I play with. They always watch the backside safety. And now with the backside safety just showing something different or kind of sitting there … you don’t know what we are in. You don’t know what checks we have. So I think that’s going to be dope.”

Adams also gave his stamp of approval, saying both he and Diggs are really excited to be a part of the change.

Diggs and Adams are both recovering from major injuries suffered late last season. Diggs broke his fibula and sprained his ankle in the final quarter of the last game of the year, while Adams missed the final month with yet another shoulder injury. Both are expected to be back to 100% by training camp.

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Former Ravens S Earl Thomas III arrested in Texas

Former Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas was reportedly arrested in his hometown of Orange, Texas on Friday.

During the 2019 offseason, the Baltimore Ravens made a big free agent splash by signing former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas III to a four-year, $55 million contract. He played well on the field for Baltimore, but off of the field he wasn’t a good fit, ultimately being let go for what the organization deemed conduct detrimental to the team.

Thomas has gotten into some trouble off of the field ever since his time with the Ravens came to an end. His most recent run-in with the law has resulted in his arrest, as the former safety was taken into custody in his hometown of Orange, Texas on Friday.

An arrest warrant was issued for Thomas on April 27 in Austin, Texas for an alleged violation of a court protective order, according to WFAA in Dallas. Thomas told ESPN’s Adam Schefter in April that he wanted to return to the NFL. The safety has not played in a game since the 2019 season, which was his first and only season with the Ravens.