Given the fact that he signed the second-biggest contract for a player at his position in NFL history, and the franchise’s propensity to greatly value the defensive side of the ball, the Baltimore Ravens’ acquisition of All-Pro safety Earl Thomas this offseason seems not to be getting the attention that it ought to be—or so argues one Ravens beat writer. And I’m not sure he’s wrong.
Thomas is pretty much hands down one of the two or three best safeties of the past however many years, and may fall behind only Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed in terms of the position since the beginning of the current millennium, depending on whom you ask and on what day.