Earl Thomas Shouldn’t Be an Option For Cleveland Browns

The NFL is a fluid league and teams have to be willing to look at every avenue of a way to improve. If you don’t, you’ll end up in a rebuild before you know it. With Earl Thomas being released by the Baltimore Ravens, every GM will at least have to answer that question, is it worth pursuing?

For the Cleveland Browns, that answer should be a negative. Even with Grant Delpit being out until next season, bringing in Thomas will make little to no sense. It may have been a possibility with the former GM, but Andrew Berry’s moves to date do not align with bringing in Thomas. The reason being Thomas was dumped from the Ravens for punching a teammate out of frustration, that is an obvious locker room issue. A team like the Browns who are trying to get on the right track with a new coach should want no part in those issues.

The talent of Thomas is there, he may not be an All-Pro caliber player still, which he has been three times in his career. Effort was a problem with Thomas last year, notably on runs by Nick Chubb and then against Derrick Henry again. Last season Thomas had two interceptions, a forced fumble, two sacks and 49 tackles. It surely wasn’t one of his best years as he lined up at strong safety more so rather than free safety.

Thomas very well could sign a short-term deal somewhere, then look for a bigger deal a year down the line. Cleveland seems content with Karl Joseph, Andrew Sendejo and Sheldrick Redwine at safety. M.J. Stewart will too be a candidate to step in and play some nickel for the Joe Woods defense, Kevin Johnson will be in the slot once healthy. So, if the Browns do go after some free agent help, it will be a player that plays situational downs, can step in certain situations. Thomas is not going to come in and be anything except an every down player.

If the Browns look to add another safety it will simply be depth, they have multiple defensive backs on this team that can move around, so venturing for a big name safety doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, even with Grant Delpit out for the year. When you add in the reason the Ravens got rid of him, the juice just may not be worth the squeeze.