Cowboys Conduct In-House Meeting On Earl Thomas, McCarthy Confirms
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys have confirmed our weekend reporting on the club's in-house meeting regarding seven-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas, who after another troublesome incident with the Baltimore Ravens is now a free agent.
But a decision hasn't been made, a source indicates to CowboysSI.com, because the decision is not an easy one.
“I have nothing really to report.” coach Mike McCarthy told the DFW media on Monday morning, but confirmed that he'd met with personnel boss Will McClay on the subject.
Cowboys bosses Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones have also been involved in the in-house discussions, we're told.
So why haven't the Cowboys - given their long flirtation with the idea of acquiring the Hall-of-Fame candidate Thomas - pulled the trigger since his 3 p.m. CT Sunday release?
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McCarthy issued a company line as one mode of explanation. "We’re very confident in the 80-man roster,'' he said.
But the coach made a more general statement that may also apply very specifically to Thomas. He mentioned how he prioritizes a new player's personality.
“I think the most important question you need to ask,'' McCarthy said, "is, 'How does a player fit into the locker room?”'
And for Earl Thomas, for at least the last two seasons, one in Seattle and now in Baltimore, that's been a problem.
On Saturday, the Cowboys' feeling on the 31-year-old Thomas was, in a word, "trepidation.'' They hadn't spent time on the financial side of the concept of chasing Thomas, should Baltimore part ways with him ... But they had some awareness of the "issues'' that surround him.
Thomas' history of football heroics as a member of the Seattle Seahawks? Legendary stuff, until his money dispute with the club caused him to trot into the home-team locker room at AT&T Stadium, openly flaunting his desire to somehow, someday, join his home-state Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas, of course, played with the idea multiple times, starting on NFL Draft Weekend 2018 by making a trade offer to the Seahawks, who declined. Seattle then saw him sustain a season-ending injury in a game followed by him flipping off his own bench, and later allowed him to leave via 2019 free agency, when Dallas flirted again ... but had no desire to match the four-year, $55-million deal with $32 million guaranteed given him by the Ravens.
Did it work in 2019 in Baltimore? Seemingly. Though he conflicted with teammates, he did make the Pro Bowl.
Did it work this offseason? Not so much. Thomas’s wife Nina was arrested for pointing a gun at Thomas on the early morning of April 13. Nina had tracked down Thomas at a short-term rental home in Austin, where she found the safety and his brother, Seth, in bed with two women, according to a police affidavit. Thomas told the police he had been “romantically involved” with one of the women in bed for 3-4 months.
Was it working in this Ravens camp? Thomas was sent home from training camp this weekend following an altercation with fellow safety Chuck Clark, which started with Clark barking at Thomas for blowing a coverage, turned to near-fisticuffs, and then was accelerated when Thomas posted since-removed video of the play meant to clear his name.
Thomas' 2019 contract included a fully-guaranteed $10 million salary in 2020. The Ravens will attempt to nullify that due to what they call "personal conduct that has adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens.'' Dallas has obviously negotiated its way free from that. And now Dallas is charged with making sure this great player, who had slid from "colorful'' to "controversial,'' is ready to follow the lead of other 2020 big-name Cowboys defensive signees who are to rejuvenate their careers - careers than in the cases of Aldon Smith and Everson Griffen are also high-profile/low-price acquisitions.
Thomas figures as a starting safety here, jumping ahead of another newcomer vet, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and alongside Xavier Woods; McCarthy noted that philosophically, Dallas' defense allows safeties to be "interchangeable.''
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Owner Jerry Jones' personnel department has a job is to stay on top of everyone and everything, and it has done that with Thomas for three years. And now? The 77-year-old Jones' desire to build a Super Bowl roster is a strong one.
On paper? Earl Thomas' long-anticipated Texas homecoming would greatly improve the roster. In the locker room? The in-house debate continues on.
