Earl Thomas wanted to show an old friend how far he had come.
It was 2013 and a 24-year-old Thomas was patrolling the Seattle Seahawks Legion of Boom High School. The franchise was just weeks away from its first Super Bowl championship and Thomas had flown his high school coach, Dan Hooks, to the famous Texas State Hall, and his wife to see the end of the regular season of the Seahawks vs. St. Louis Rams.
After the Seahawks passed the Rams, Hooks found himself at Thomas’ house for dinner, surrounded by luxury. He overlooked the waters of the lake while Nina Thomas, Earl’s future wife, prepared a tender steak. After dinner, Thomas walked Hooks to his garage to see the Lamborghini Murcielago. Hooks doesn’t remember if the car was blue or white, but he definitely remembers the scissor doors and hand-sewn leather seats, a rare sight from a player he always considered a bit introverted.
Thomas stressed that he never drove her through rain or mud.
Seven years later, Hooks wonders how Thomas, a proud young player who was now unemployed after a rocky season with the Baltimore Ravens and well-publicized problems off the field, is navigating the same conditions of his life.
“I was very surprised when it came out like this,” said Hooks, who coached Thomas at Orange-Stark High School. “Over time, the image he represented became a little different. I don’t know what happened. But he’s a fantastic kid and I wish him success.”
After nearly $ 90 million in professional earnings, seven Pro Bowls and three All-Pro selections, Thomas has played deep safety on a likely route to the Hall of Fame. But a number of bizarre events on and off the field at the end of his career have raised questions about a crumbling legacy, such as:
-
He ended his career in Seattle by throwing a middle finger at Pete Carroll on September 30, 2018, after a leg injury and a bitter contract dispute.
-
He ended his career in Baltimore with a punch, with teammates fed up with his act long before fighting the safety of Chuck Clark during a training camp on August 21, 2020. Two days later, the Ravens was ruled out for conduct detrimental to the team.
-
In between, a well-publicized affair with his wife, Nina, who was arrested on April 13, 2020, for allegedly pointing a gun at Thomas on suspicion of cheating, according to court records, set him on fire. football.
Now Thomas is 31 and waiting for one last chance to anchor a secondary. Throughout the season, the free agent has worked five to six days a week with Jeremy Hills, a former University of Texas teammate who trains many NFL athletes outside of Austin.
“He feels he has a lot more to prove,” Hills said. “It will appear ready whenever you receive the call.”
Blake Gideon, a former University of Texas security member who shared the defensive field with Thomas, supports the claim, saying Thomas conveyed in recent text messages that he “understands the position he is in and is anxious” to correct. -with another opportunity.
Many former teammates and coaches said the news about Thomas, who did not respond to multiple ESPN attempts to get there, did not match the person they know: a calm but loyal individual who does not trust others easily, but who cares deeply once the walls are broken, with a rare football approach that confuses with jealousy.
The latter part complicated Thomas’ condition in several locker rooms. His relentless pursuit of greatness could create an abyss that several former teammates did not want to discuss on the record out of respect for Thomas ’career.
As one long Seahawk put it, Thomas was “very similar to Kobe” in his competitive drive. Kobe Bryant evolved and was loved when he retired in 2016. Will Thomas be fired or has the game said it for him?
Faith and family in Orange, Texas
Almost everything a young Thomas did felt tidy.
His interest in music became not only a hobby, but a boat for a whole church body, playing drums and organ on the Sunday service band in Orange, Texas.
A quiet boy in a matching tie and vest helped leave the Sixth Street Community Church congregation out of their seats. Sixth Street, located on the east side of Orange, which the church’s Facebook page calls “Devil’s Territory” because of crime and drugs in the area, spread joy from a brick building. brown. Thomas’s grandfather, Earl V. Thomas Sr., was the founding pastor and Uncle Anthony D. Thomas has taken over.
Raymond Richard, Thomas ’teammate at Orange-Stark, said the boys were at church three nights a week, plus weekends. The services were “full of the Holy Spirit: shouts and spirits moving,” he said, and while Thomas was not the animated type, he was proud to help others celebrate God through music.
“He could play all the instruments. He was gifted like that,” Richard said. “I think he just learned to play by being around him.”
Growing up in Orange, nicknamed “Fruit City,” sitting on the border of Texas and Louisiana with a population of about 11,000, Thomas cut grass with his father on weekends. Locals knew Thomas as Debbie Thomas’ “miracle baby,” because doctors told her she, a cancer survivor, could not have children. Instead, “God blessed her with a millionaire,” Richard said.
Thomas became arguably Orange’s best player since former Dallas Cowboy All-Pro cornerback Kevin Smith in the 1980s. Thomas was a hybrid cornerback who hated leaving the field. No test, in the field or standardized, would stop his rise.
His high school teammate, Depauldrick Garrett, recalls that Thomas struggled with his SAT scores to qualify at the University of Texas. Before his last qualifying attempt, Thomas told the site, “If I beat that score, ‘I’m going to the league.'”
“His level of focus was just different,” Garrett said. “He wanted to make a name for himself for Orange and learned from his family the value of hard work.”