Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday that anyone criticizing Earl Thomas for his middle finger at Seattle’s sideline as he was being carted off with a a fractured lower leg should cut the safety “a little slack.”
Carroll made his comments in his weekly interview with 710 ESPN Seattle a day after he said he didn’t see the gesture made by Thomas.
“People that are criticizing whatever happened don’t understand. This was an earth-shattering moment for a kid. He’s trying to play this game he loves and all of sudden this happens again. He knew exactly what happened to him so he went right to what it’s going to take to get back,” Carroll said.
“He had it all just totally figured out and was as emotional as you can get. … Give him a little slack. This is a very, very difficult moment that most people wouldn’t understand what that was all about.”
Carroll said on Sunday that he believes Thomas’ injury is similar to the season-ending injury Thomas suffered to the same leg in December 2016.
Thomas was not available to the media after the game.
Thomas’ future with the team was in question all offseason and has continued to be since he returned on the Wednesday before Seattle’s opener. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday that the Seahawks had still been open to trading Thomas, but that they had refused to budge on their asking price of a 2019 second-round pick.
Thomas has voiced his displeasure over his contract, which is in its final year and includes an $8.5 million salary. Thomas said upon his return that he determined that he had too much money to lose — $500,000 in weekly game checks — if he were to continue his holdout into the regular season.
“I think that’s the crazy part of our business. If he doesn’t come, then he’s not a team player,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said, referring to what perceptions would have been about Thomas had he continued to hold out. “If he does come and he gets hurt, then it’s, ‘He shouldn’t have come.’ So it’s a position that we get put in often, and it’s an unfortunate situation.”
Wagner’s comment drew a response from another star player who has been absent due to an ongoing contract dispute. Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, who hasn’t reported to the team this season, replied to a post on Instagram post that featured Wagner’s quote by writing: “smh exactly…get right bro bro @earl! I’ll continue to be the bad guy for ALL of us.”
Carroll had said last week that the Seahawks and Thomas were in a “good place.” He went into more detail on Monday.
“I think we had made sense of the situation Earl was dealing with. He was clear about moving forward. He was having fun, he was loving playing. I just think that we communicated well, and he knew how much I cared about him and I know how much he cares about this game and all that he’s up against,” he said.
“It was kind of two guys understanding and compassionate for the other. We had made good progress and I’ll never forget that. It was really important, and I thought Earl was a really great man about dealing with it all.”
ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.