An arrest warrant has been issued in Austin, Texas for free agent safety Earl Thomas, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson.
The warrant, which was signed in late April, charges Thomas with a third-degree felony for at least two violations. A protective order from May 2021 stated that Thomas could only communicate with a woman “through a co-parenting phone app,” but the player has allegedly violated the order by sending “threatening messages to a woman about her and her children.”
The woman told police that Thomas recently threatened to “kick [her] ass” and bragged about the recent acquisition of two handguns. Thomas’s lawyer, who has been representing the player in his ongoing divorce, stated that his client was simply reaching out to the woman to coordinate visitation with their children.
This isn’t the player’s first run-in with the law. The Austin American-Statesman reports that Thomas was also arrested in February 2021 on a “a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon.” The player eventually forfeited the weapon and the charges were dismissed. Meanwhile, as Henderson writes, a woman named Nina Thomas was arrested in April 2020 for pointing a loaded handgun at the NFL player during a “heated argument.”
In nine years with the Seahawks, Thomas totaled 664 tackles, 28 interceptions and 67 pass deflections. A key member of the ‘Legion of Boom’, it was with Seattle that he made two straight Super Bowl appearances, including a title in 2013. Things didn’t end well for Thomas in the Emerald City, however. A contract dispute, coupled with a broken leg, marked the conclusion of his final campaign with the Seahawks. He signed a four-year, $55MM deal with the Ravens in 2019, leading to big expectations for himself personally and the team in general.
In what ended up being his lone campaign in Baltimore, the 2010s All-Decade member put up respectable, if unspectacular, numbers. He recorded a pair of interceptions and allowed a passer rating of just 24.2, leading to his seventh Pro Bowl nod. His overall understanding of the playbook and interaction with teammates, however, weighed those statistics down. Not long before the start of the subsequent season, Thomas was involved in an altercation with fellow safety Chuck Clark. Shortly thereafter, he was released by the Ravens. Speculation heated up regarding where his next destination would be, including, most notably, the Cowboys. No team came close to signing him, however, and he has remained on the sidelines for the past two seasons.
Thomas recently stated his desire to continue his NFL career.
Another player who went from being a solid Hall of Fame player to being forever enshrined into the Hall of Good instead. Hope he gets his life turned around so the can enjoy the back 9.
More like the hall of wasted talent due to making stupid decisions
He’s still borderline to get in. 7x pro bowl, 3x all pro, super bowl title and all decade team. Players with less have gotten in. Although the legal issues aren’t going to help anything.
Note: I don’t have a dog in the fight and don’t care if he does/doesn’t.
Thomas is probably a Hall of Famer just for his play on the field. Character issues aside, he is in contention for being the best safety of the 2010s, even if it’s not pleasant to say so due to his attitude issues.
I am still confused as to how his wife pointing a handgun at Thomas is somehow a mark against him, though. He and his brother teaming up to cheat on her was bad, of course, but I also don’t think cheating on one’s spouse is unusual for NFL players, so I don’t know. To me, Thomas’ actions in Baltimore stood out more, because while many NFL players cheat or have contentious relationships with mothers of their children, not many fight teammates or ignore their job responsibilities. That’s the part that the NFL won’t tolerate (after all, that is what it’s there for).
I assume character issue count since Curt Schilling won’t get in based on how he votes. I’m assuming threatening your wife and/or beating her is on the same level.
Fair. I wasn’t meaning to say whether they should or shouldn’t, I was just discussing Thomas’ play. As far as whether his character issues will ultimately be enough to keep him out I won’t try to predict.
The photo above is how Thomas reacted when he found out about the warrant.
Great pic lol
There should be a caption below the photo titled “The side effects of PEDs they don’t want you to know”.
Sad. Truly. When things like this happen, you wonder just how many hits he took and whether all of those hits are finally taking their toll. Sad.
Ya clearly not his fault clearly the system you don’t want to ascribe blame cuz ya might come off as ya know
People quit trying to excuse away any bad behavior with the CTE comments. The absolute vast majority of players keep their names out of the police blotter, and some people were toxic most of their lives long before the hits mounted.
Exactly. If you’re going to blame CTE, then the NFL is culpable. If that’s the case then society should take a long hard look at shutting the league down.
“Thomas recently stated his desire to continue his NFL career”
I want to play also I think I have almost a good of chance. 61 yo destroyed back on disability because of it. I think my chances are a bit better.
Earl goes from one of the best to unemployable. Too bad had a great career. Wonder if this is Earl being Earl with no Kam and Sherm to keep him inline or brain injury? I know that brain injury excuse is used a lot but it has been proved true. Sounds like he needs to get a bit of counseling about anger issues. Hope he gets help because he was so fun to watch all those years in the backfield.
Sherman has had some issues himself. Chancellor seems to be the only one of the three who didn’t have any crazy blowups off the field after the demise of the Legion of Boom-and ironically, he’s the one who left first and retired. That attitude is partially what made Sherman and Thomas so good, but their inability to separate their on field aggression from their character actions is what has had consequences later.
Their hostility (attitude) towards women and being violent to those weaker than them is part of what made Sherman and Thomas so good? Wow, okay. Is that why Thomas fizzled out at 30 years old too? Man, some of these comments are confusing.
No, that’s quite obviously not what I meant. And neither has been proven or even accused of beating women. Thomas is accused of threatening a person, but not beating her. What I meant, and what should have obvious, was that their aggressive and angry demeanor on the field was part of their play style, as is well documented. I also said that that attitude is what got them into trouble-not beating women or what not, but being aggressive to and occasionally even disrespectful of opponents. I said it’s what had consequences.
Fair enough, my apologies for the misinterpretation
You hope he gets help because he was fun to watch in the backfield. I hope he gets help so he doesn’t harm himself or others.
“Allegedly sending threatening messages to a woman about her and her Children”. Yeah sounds like a great guy.
Divorce makes people go crazy. When kids are involved it gets worse, they’re always using them as a ploy against the other partner man or woman. No one ever stays chill bc money is involved and other assets. And then you add in some d-b lawyers that specialize in inflicting emotional and financial damage on one of the parties that puts you on tilt. Seen it from the sidelines a few times w friends/relatives.
And for Earl, kinda putting the final dagger in the career man. It was already a slim chance of return. No one wants to deal w this kinda bs for a fringe player.
Well his homie Sherman got another chance and somehow also evaded any discipline from the league for far more egregious behavior.
Time for another remake of The Longest Yard starring the legion of boom. Spoiler alert: it’s a documentary.
Epic lol
This explains the Cowboys’ interest in him.
“The woman told police that Thomas recently threatened to “kick [her] ass” and bragged about the recent acquisition of two handguns. Thomas’s lawyer, who has been representing the player in his ongoing divorce, stated that his client was simply reaching out to the woman to coordinate visitation with their children.”
Quality legal work.
The threat to kill her was just part of keeping that visitation coordination smooth and cordial, no doubt.
Those threats happen more often than you think in relationships where children exist with independent parents, on both ends. People get very agitated when they believe that they’re held away from their kids. Unfortunately, it’s pretty common in a contentious relationship, and much of the time, the other parent can’t wait to use something against their counterpart.
And then there was that last text, “Ima let my momma and my cousins poison they (their children) ass” which alone may preclude any further visitation.
Thanks for the generic social worker take. I’ll take a yawn and move on now
Take your time. As long as you’re yawning and not typing, the comments section will be better off.
Haha damn that was a good comeback Ak185
Legion of Boom turning into the Legion of Law Breakers. Thats half of them in 1 years time. Eeeeek!!!!
Great comment!
Classy!
Grade A Scumbag.
COMMENTS OPEN!!! This time
Yeah, some domestic situations automatically get shut down while others are open, then some pretty much anonymous guy 5 rungs down on the scouting department ladder gets let go in Philly and they close the comments. Consistency!
Looks like PFR is white-washing the charges. There are more serious charges being put forth with regards to his ex-wife.
Shocked comments are open on this subject matter.
I’m sure it’s just a slight misunderstanding, they must really have a loving relationship…
“In April 2020, Nina Thomas was arrested in Austin after pointing a loaded handgun at Earl Thomas during a heated argument. She was charged with first-degree felony burglary of a residence with intent to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after telling police she confronted her husband because she believed he was cheating on her.”