Earl Thomas intends to sign a four-year, $55MM deal with the Ravens, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The deal will include a whopping $32MM fully guaranteed and pay Thomas $22MM inside of the first nine months.
With the deal, Thomas has secured an average annual salary of $13.75MM. That beats out his earlier goal of eclipsing $13MM per year, but puts him shy of the $14MM/year mark obtained by Landon Collins (Redskins) and Tyrann Mathieu (Chiefs). It’s also a big step up from the $10MM/year he earned with the Seahawks on his last contract.
For the Ravens, the deal gives them ample firepower and star power to replace Eric Weddle. Baltimore, which already featured a pass defense which third in DVOA last season, will now field a secondary that includes Thomas, fellow safety Tony Jefferson, and cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Jimmy Smith, and Tavon Young.
Thomas, 29, spent nine years in Seattle as arguably the premier safety in the NFL, but his final years with the Seahawks were tinged with his displeasure at not receiving a new contract. After angling for a trade or a new deal prior to the 2018 campaign, Thomas suffered a broken leg in Week 4 which ended his season prematurely. That injury wiped out his most of his platform year, and may have prevented him from becoming the league’s highest-paid safety.
Thomas comes to Baltimore with a decorated history. He’s been named first-team All-Pro three times, second-team All-Pro twice, and earned six Pro Bowl nods. Pro Football Focus, meanwhile, has never assigned Thomas a below-average grade for his performance, and he’s regularly ranked among the NFL’s best safeties per PFF metrics.
Damn, really thought he would be a great fit for my 9ers. They have made some really good moves but I hate that they missed out on this guy. Hopefully they can get Dixon and Darby still or at least one of them.
Great get for the Ravens though. This team always finds a way to get good guys on Defense so this doesn’t surprise me. Upgrade for them at this position for sure although I do think they have more work to do on D because they have lost some good players.
$32MM guaranteed is a huge amount for a 29 year old safety who throws his body around with abandon. The Niners wanted him, but probably weren’t willing to come close to Baltimore’s commitment.
Judging by niners offseason they arent doing much. After this year that jimmy g deal with either look good or really bad
Well getting back talented LB and Dee ford is better than nothing. To fill holes. Maybe they will get other player or use the draft to fill other holes
49ere really dont want to use their cap space. They have had it for 3 years not but have not really made a big splash until Dee Ford
Well they did use there cap they almost paid 30 mill for two guys. Maybe they didn’t want give 55 mill for a guy like Thomas with his injury history
Holy hell we did something
Love Thomas but as a Cowboys fan kind of happy they did not shell out this kind of deal. 22 million in the first nine months? This just screams “we will overpay just so you come to Baltimore“
Everyone has overpaid in the last 3 days. That’s the market right now. Pony up the $, or pray you strike gold in the draft.
Now the owner who spent $250 million on a yacht is going to brag about how cost conscience he has become. I love this!
There’s no salary cap for buying yachts.
The Cowboys didn’t need that contract on the books and thankfully Jerrys $250 million dollar yacht doesn’t count against the cap.
33mil guaranteed for an aging, injury prone Safety? I LOVE Thomas’s agent!
New England patiently waits for the scraps to sculpt its next Super Bowl team!
Look what they did last year. Acquired Trent Brown & a 5th round pick for a 3rd round pick. Paid him $1.9M last year. Lose him to Oakland this season, but will get a 3rd round compensatory pick back for him in 2020. Everyone is playing checkers while New England continues to play chess.
While Kraft is just playing with little boys
I am happy for ET I truly wish Seattle and him could have worked it out. This is a great contract for him but there is a problem. If he has a good season he will look at his contract and not be happy. His guaranteed money will be low and the average salary too. They seem to forget they took the money up front and if they figure that into the contract they are getting paid more. It is all about what am I being paid now. If Baltimore won’t renegotiate his contract they will see the same actions from him.
This makes the Packers signing of Amos look a lot better.
Smh you can’t trust a guy like Earl Thomas in the playoffs he might join the other team at halftime
Glad BigD didn’t sign him and over pay.
Wow Baltimore. Hope that leg holds up. A lot of torque and lbs. per sq. In. being constantly applied to it. Broke the second time without being touched. He’s worth every penny if he holds up and st