NFL trade rumors: Khalil Mack, Shane Ray, Earl Thomas ideas

Earl Thomas

The Earl Thomas situation is a bit more difficult than the one with Khalil Mack.

While Mack wants to be paid and is holding out until he’s paid, he doesn’t necessarily want to be traded.

Thomas has not handled his business very well, at least from my seat.

His decision to run up to Jason Garrett after the Cowboys-Seahawks game in 2017 is one of the worst decisions I’ve seen by a player entering a contract year in recent memory.

That decision made it abundantly clear that after 2018, Thomas would be a free agent and no one would have to trade anything to get him.

It also showed what kind of mindset he is in — or was in — which is not that of a team player.

Thomas tried to clarify his comments and say that he’s always been a Cowboys fan and that he meant he wanted the Cowboys to ‘come get’ him when the Seahawks ‘kick him to the curb.’

The Seahawks would probably be fine adding $8.5 million to their 2018 cap number, but the potentially bigger issue here is the fact that trading Thomas sets a precedent that if you become a star player, you can dictate when and where you play and that is not good for the locker room.

At the same time, it’s clear Thomas doesn’t want to be in Seattle and isn’t going to get a new contract from the team.

The Seahawks probably won’t get great value for him in a trade — maybe a third-round pick at the very best — but they should trade him to Dallas if the Cowboys can work things out financially.

Another team could trade for Thomas, but only if the price to acquire him is so low, they are willing to risk losing him to Dallas in free agency next year, similar to what Seattle did last year before final cuts in trading for Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (though the price Seattle paid to get him was quite high).