Earl Thomas will be a Cowboy by Mid August- Book it

[T-RO]

After researching the ET situation I think it is virtually inevitable that Seattle and Dallas will work out a deal that makes Earl a Cowboy. The trade will happen between August 5 and Aug 20

I’ll break this up in a few posts:
Part I. Why Seattle wants, even needs to deal

We already know that the Hawks actively shopped Earl at draft time. That is one of the three elephants in the room. Seattle front office has played their hand. We’ll address the other elephants In upcoming posts.

Earl has applied the heat and it is working. “Trade me” he says. This is bad PR for the team and bad locker room mojo. Camp is starting without him there and dead fish start to stink. On top of that Thomas’ comments are puncturing any leverage the ‘Hawks have in their hopes to get a good return.

Seattle has lost most of the legion of doom. Everyone knows they are rebuilding. Thomas cannot really help Seattle as a player...there are no real playoff chances...he can only help them as a commodity.

Seattle only has 2$ million in cap space and they still have a number of young players they need to sign or extend. Earl is due $10.4 mil. What is a rebuilding team that is in cap trouble? Answer = a selling team. Hawks will most certainly sell to hasten their restructuring.

Fans, bloggers and media guys in the northwest understand the corner the ‘Hawks are in. Listen up to a Seahawks media member:

It’s a tough dilemma for Seahawks general manager John Schneider, whose team is in the middle of a rebuild of sorts even if he prefers to call it a “reset.” He doesn’t want to trade an All-Pro for a third- or fourth-round pick. I don’t blame him – that’s not anywhere close to equal value. But does he want a two- to three-month distraction of constant questions about Thomas’ status, not to mention social-media emojis that tell us how Earl himself is feeling?

 

[fansince68]

After researching the ET situation I think it is virtually inevitable that Seattle and Dallas will work out a deal that makes Earl a Cowboy. The trade will happen between August 5 and Aug 20

I’ll break this up in a few posts:
Part I. Why Seattle wants, even needs to deal

We already know that the Hawks actively shopped Earl at draft time. That is one of the three elephants in the room. Seattle front office has played their hand. We’ll address the other elephants In upcoming posts.

Earl has applied the heat and it is working. “Trade me” he says. This is bad PR for the team and bad locker room mojo. Camp is starting without him there and dead fish start to stink. On top of that Thomas’ comments are puncturing any leverage the ‘Hawks have in their hopes to get a good return.

Seattle has lost most of the legion of doom. Everyone knows they are rebuilding. Thomas cannot really help Seattle as a player...there are no real playoff chances...he can only help them as a commodity.

Seattle only has 2$ million in cap space and they still have a number of young players they need to sign or extend. Earl is due $10.4 mil. What is a rebuilding team that is in cap trouble? Answer = a selling team. Hawks will most certainly sell to hasten their restructuring.

Fans, bloggers and media guys in the northwest understand the corner the ‘Hawks are in. Listen up to a Seahawks media member:

They will do like we did and most teams do. Restructure some contracts to create space for the players they want to keep.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

After researching the ET situation I think it is virtually inevitable that Seattle and Dallas will work out a deal that makes Earl a Cowboy. The trade will happen between August 5 and Aug 20

I’ll break this up in a few posts:
Part I. Why Seattle wants, even needs to deal

We already know that the Hawks actively shopped Earl at draft time. That is one of the three elephants in the room. Seattle front office has played their hand. We’ll address the other elephants In upcoming posts.

Earl has applied the heat and it is working. “Trade me” he says. This is bad PR for the team and bad locker room mojo. Camp is starting without him there and dead fish start to stink. On top of that Thomas’ comments are puncturing any leverage the ‘Hawks have in their hopes to get a good return.

Seattle has lost most of the legion of doom. Everyone knows they are rebuilding. Thomas cannot really help Seattle as a player...there are no real playoff chances...he can only help them as a commodity.

Seattle only has 2$ million in cap space and they still have a number of young players they need to sign or extend. Earl is due $10.4 mil. What is a rebuilding team that is in cap trouble? Answer = a selling team. Hawks will most certainly sell to hasten their restructuring.

Fans, bloggers and media guys in the northwest understand the corner the ‘Hawks are in. Listen up to a Seahawks media member:

I Agree welcome Earl to your dream team......

 

[T-RO]

Part 2. Why Dallas will deal.
Dallas has the thinnest talent at safety as any spot on their roster. After years of going thrifty at safety I believe they are ready to splurge on a playmaker in centerfield. The second elephant in the room is that Dallas has already put in bids for Earl. The Cowboys offered a third round pick during the draft weekend. They too have made their intentions clear.

If you go look at the Cowboys depth chart you’ll see they are carrying fewer safeties than for any other position. There is little depth and no star power.

Dallas has $14 mil in cap space. They can afford this. Coach Richard is most certainly egging them on to get Earl...and probably doing so daily. The Cowboys have been careful and frugal and subdued in free agency for a few years now. The team is itching to make a splash.

 

[T-RO]

They will do like we did and most teams do. Restructure some contracts to create space for the players they want to keep.

There is no point. By the time the Hawks are a playoff threat again ET will be 32 or 33 years old.

And how do you overlook an elephant? They’ve already been shopping him for 5 months. Seahawk media knows it, their smart fans know it...and you can be sure the front office knows it...the Legion of Boom popped. They’ve got to fully reload. You do that by trading older players...esp. ones with stiff contract demands.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

After researching the ET situation I think it is virtually inevitable that Seattle and Dallas will work out a deal that makes Earl a Cowboy. The trade will happen between August 5 and Aug 20

I’ll break this up in a few posts:
Part I. Why Seattle wants, even needs to deal

We already know that the Hawks actively shopped Earl at draft time. That is one of the three elephants in the room. Seattle front office has played their hand. We’ll address the other elephants In upcoming posts.

Earl has applied the heat and it is working. “Trade me” he says. This is bad PR for the team and bad locker room mojo. Camp is starting without him there and dead fish start to stink. On top of that Thomas’ comments are puncturing any leverage the ‘Hawks have in their hopes to get a good return.

Seattle has lost most of the legion of doom. Everyone knows they are rebuilding. Thomas cannot really help Seattle as a player...there are no real playoff chances...he can only help them as a commodity.

Seattle only has 2$ million in cap space and they still have a number of young players they need to sign or extend. Earl is due $10.4 mil. What is a rebuilding team that is in cap trouble? Answer = a selling team. Hawks will most certainly sell to hasten their restructuring.

Fans, bloggers and media guys in the northwest understand the corner the ‘Hawks are in. Listen up to a Seahawks media member:

OK.

 

[T-RO]

Part 3: The baby elephant is ET and he has surprising leverage.

Earl is playing this like a pro. He plants a seed with the force of soldiers planting a flag at Iowa Jima, running into the Cowboys locker room to talk with Garrett: “Come Get me!” This was a hugely public gesture...no one in the league could miss it.

I will tell you a fact: That seed germinated and grew. And with Richard’s arrival the seed has been fertilized and hydrated.

Add in the mini camp and emerging training camp hold out and momentum will grow into runaway force, pulling Dallas attention back into play, and creating serious torque on the ‘Hawks front office.

But there is another thing that Earl’s comments tend to do: dissuade other trading partners. What other team is going to want to make a trade offer—which is incredibly risky—for a guy who seemingly only wants to play in Dallas?

 

[lukin2006]

No, No and No ... Jerry sucks at trading...

 

[T-RO]

ESPN listed possible trading partners. But none of them have the combination of need and available funds that the Cowboys have.

Dallas can get this done for a third round pick... The other trading partners will be scared off or dissuaded. Seattle has no leverage and a compelling need to move on.

Unless Dallas has changed their mind* this will happen. Terms will be a third round pick—perhaps slightly sweetened.

So let me summarize:
T-Ro says this:
Seattle will trade Thomas to Dallas between August 5 and August 20. The trade will be a third round pick, perhaps slightly sweetened.

*Possible

 

[T-RO]

No, No and No ... Jerry sucks at trading...

Let me ask you this: How would you feel if the Cowboys got Earl for a third round pick?

 

[lukin2006]

Let me ask you this: How would you feel if the Cowboys got Earl for a third round pick?

I could live with that. Do you think Seattle will give him up for a 3rd?

 

[Tabascocat]

Love it, can't get enough of these Thomas threads

With that said, get him if it only takes a 3rd at worst

 

[Cowpolk]

Let me ask you this: How would you feel if the Cowboys got Earl for a third round pick?

Offer a 3rd and a 5th tell them final offer

 

[T-RO]

Offer a 3rd and a 5th tell them final offer

I was thinking along these lines until I saw ‘Hawks cap situation. Seattle needs to deal so they can make other deals.

There are two ways to view Earl:
-As a one-year rental
-As long term guy

I say a third round pick is worthwhile for 1 year of an all-pro.

 

[T-RO]

I could live with that. Do you think Seattle will give him up for a 3rd?

Seattle has lost the following starters: Richard Sherman, Cam Chancellor, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Sheldon Richardson. Four of those guys were on the NFL “top 100” and now are gone. That team is dead. They will make the best possible trade they can for Thomas and move on.

It will depend on what market—if any—emerges for the guy. I’ve heard nothing to confirm there are other interested parties.

This could scare teams other teams off: age, salary and his fixation on playing for Dallas.

 

[waving monkey]

Let me ask you this: How would you feel if the Cowboys got Earl for a third round pick?

He would hate the trade cause Jerry sucks

 

[Trouty]

Okay, who’s on meth right now and who’s the insomniacs?

Earl for a third and fifth all day, but I want Tank locked up, first. I don’t think we can fit both under the cap. Maybe @Nightman could shed some light?

 

[Tabascocat]

Okay, who’s on meth right now and who’s the insomniacs?

Earl for a third and fifth all day, but I want Tank locked up, first. I don’t think we can fit both under the cap. Maybe @Nightman could shed some light?

Tank may be expendable if our boy Randy shows something. Regardless, Dallas can sign both easily if they wanted

 

[gmoney112]

Seattle has over 10mill of cap space?

 

[T-RO]

Okay, who’s on meth right now and who’s the insomniacs?

Earl for a third and fifth all day, but I want Tank locked up, first. I don’t think we can fit both under the cap. Maybe @Nightman could shed some light?

Yo Trout...Huge night owl—and it got worse while staying up late to watch British Open. I need to reel my schedule back in. W/My own biz I can sleep in...but not a good habit.

As for a long term contract on Earl...I have very mixed feelings on it. I’ll save that for tomorrow.