Former Seahawks All-Pro Earl Thomas Wants to Make NFL Comeback

He hasn’t been with a team since the summer of 2020, when he was cut after a practice altercation.

Editor’s note: This story contains alleged accounts of domestic violence. If you or someone you know is a survivor of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or at https://www.thehotline.org/

Earl Thomas was a key member of the Seahawks’ famed “Legion of Boom” defense, winning Super Bowl XLVIII. He made five All-Pro teams and seven Pro Bowls, and is a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2010s.

Even so, at 32, he has not played in an NFL game since 2019, his first and only year with the Ravens after nine seasons in Seattle. According to Adam Schefter, Thomas says he’s ready for his comeback after missing the last two seasons.

Former seven-time Pro-Bowl safety Earl Thomas, who last played for Baltimore in 2019 and who turns 33 in May, said today that he wants to resume his NFL career this season. “I’m ready,” Thomas texted. “I’m in shape. My timing is on point - I’m proud of that.”

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 22, 2022

Thomas was released after a 2020 practice altercation with teammate Chuck Clark, with the team citing conduct detrimental to the team. It was not the first reported confrontation between Thomas and a Baltimore teammate, and the star safety reportedly missed or was late to a number of meetings during his brief time with the team, per ESPN.  

Later that year on Dec. 26, Thomas’s wife Nina Thomas filed for divorce and received a restraining order against him, after alleging that he attacked her and put his fist through a house window. It was one of a string of 2020 incidents that she detailed in court documents, per TMZ, which show that a judge granted the request to keep Thomas at least 400 feet away from his wife’s home and their children’s schools. 

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