Seattle Seahawks: The final chapter for Earl Thomas

All-Pro safety Earl Thomas fractured his leg last Sunday in what was more than likely his last game with the Seattle Seahawks.

It looks like it’s time to close the book on the Legion of Boom of the Seattle Seahawks. Last season hard-hitting strong safety Kam Chancellor suffered a neck injury that will leave him permanently sidelined. Vocal shutdown cornerback Richard Sherman was also injured last year and then was released in the offseason. Now the X-factor, Earl Thomas, has a fractured left leg and is the final member of the Legion to exit the field for Seattle.

Thomas’ inevitable departure from the Seahawks will be messy. As he left the field on a cart on Sunday, he flipped off the Seahawks sideline. The gesture could have been aimed at a specific player on the, field but it’s more likely there were some team personnel Thomas was upset with.

Thomas held out through the entire offseason, demanding a new contract or to be traded by Seattle. While the Seahawks did shop around Thomas several times and even set an buying price, a deal was never done.

The team also showed no interest in re-signing Thomas to a long-term deal, which the All-Pro clearly deserved. Thomas had every right to holdout, an aging player at a position that in always undervalued in the NFL. He just wanted to secure his financial future, but Seattle resisted with everything they could.

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Eventually, Thomas caved and reported just in time to play Week 1. In that game, he intercepted Case Keenum and two weeks later, he picked off Dak Prescott twice. He was averaging an interception a game, which just makes the point about him being an aging player mute. Then the injury came in Week 4, and a dramatic saga ended with a cart and an obscene gesture.

Thomas will be a free agent this offseason and 2019 will be entering his age 30 season. Coming off of the fracture, Thomas will suffer financially and will not get paid like the All-Pro and future Hall-of-Famer he is. It’s a shame to see one of the league’s best players be treated this way.

Shamed and shunned by fans in Seattle for wanting to look after himself and his family, only to have his desire to play football end up delivering him the worst injury of his career. Seahawks fans have no right to judge him, and those who do are clearly forgetting just what he did for their team and city.

All of this has brought about the end of the Legion of Boom in Seattle. One of the greatest defensive backfields of all-time has now been disbanded. While Chancellor is still beloved in the city, Sherman and Thomas have both had messy exits now. It’s unfortunate that the business side of football might tarnish the legacy of the Legion and its great contributions to Seahawks football.

Let’s be honest, it was the defense that won the Seahawks Super Bowl XLVIII against Peyton Manning. And the team would’ve repeated as champions if not for one of the worst offensive play calls of all-time in Super Bowl XLIX against Tom Brady‘s Patriots. Bottom line, things should’ve ended a lot differently for the Legion of Boom than it did.

The combination of Chancellor, Sherman and Thomas will never be forgotten despite their somewhat tragic departures for the team that drafted all of them. Now the enforcer, leader and X-factor are gone, and Seattle will struggle for years to even replace even one of them.