Our colleagues at the Touchdown Wire are as starved for football as the rest of us. As the NFL season gets closer they have started examining the best players at each position. One of those players is former Longhorn safety Earl Thomas. He started his career with the Seahawks helping lead them to their first Super Bowl Championship, now a member of the Baltimore Ravens.
Earl Thomas III has been a mainstay of lists such as these since his days with the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom,” and with good reason. Thomas is perhaps the prototype at free safety, with sideline-to-sideline ability and the eye skills to match. His first season with the Ravens after a decade in the NFC West did see his play slip a bit, but when you start at such an elite level any slippage still sees you check in as one of the game’s best.
His coverage skills remain elite. Thomas was targeted in the passing game just 14 times last season, allowing just six receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown, to go with his pair of interceptions. He allowed an NFL passer rating of just 47.9, which was the lowest mark surrendered by him since the 2016 season in Seattle. His ability to read the eyes of a quarterback remains elite, as he displayed on this interception of Ryan Fitzpatrick.
INTERCEPTION @Earl_Thomas ‼️ pic.twitter.com/JOlsdWRxcc
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 8, 2019
It is no surprise to see Thomas near the top at his position, as he has been viewed as one of the best since he joined the league. Over his career Thomas has accumulated 30 career interceptions, 12 forced fumbles to go along with 713 career tackles in his 10 years in the league.