With training camp near, the Seahawks and Thomas don't seem close to agreeing on a contract extension. Thomas can have the courage of his convictions and hold out, but it will be at the potential cost of millions of dollars in fines and lost game checks, not to mention valuable games.
Earl Thomas has been many things for the Seahawks in his eight seasons with Seattle – a franchise icon, a defensive force, and a tone-setter for the type of intensity that Pete Carroll covets and craves.
But now, with a critical new season dawning, one in which the Seahawks’ place in the NFL power structure is more tenuous than it has been in years, Thomas is something they really, really don’t need right now.