The Seahawks’ six-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas had a message for his opponent after the game.
ARLINGTON, Texas – It is very rare to see a player from the visiting team venture into the home team’s locker room following a hard-fought football game.
What Seattle Seahawks all-pro safety Earl Thomas did following a victory on Sunday at AT&T Stadium was even more weird than that.
Thomas flowed into the Dallas Cowboys locker room alongside Jason Garrett and could be heard by reporters suggesting to the coach, “If y’all have a chance, come get me.”
What a shame.
The Seahawks are still alive in the playoff race (the Cowboys are not anymore) and Thomas sees fit to make some sort of a market play.
Sure, the NFL is big business. Your next play could be your last. Loyalty is cheap in pro football. And it goes both ways.
Still: Wrong time. Wrong place.
“I didn’t literally mean, like, ‘Come get me now,’ “ Thomas explained to reporters in the Seahawks locker room. “I’m still in the prime of my career. I still want to be here. But when Seattle kicks me to the curb, ‘Please, Cowboys, come and get me.’ This is the only other place I’d rather be, if I get kicked to the curb.”
Thomas, not scheduled to become a free agent until 2019 while playing on a four-year, $40 million contract, hails from Orange, Texas and attended the University of Texas. He grew up like a lot of kids in the Lone Star State as a Cowboys fan.
Yet the eighth-year pro is way too good to be begging for Dallas to put him on its radar.
He demonstrated that again on Sunday, when he roamed sideline to sideline to lead the Seahawks with 11 tackles (five solo). Yet it’s interesting that this chatter comes just days after Thomas engaged in some back-and-forth with Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner.
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Thomas downplayed the fresh buzz, and it might not cause much of a ripple in a Seahawks locker room with a full complement of free spirits. He maintained that he went to the Dallas locker room – while in full uniform — primarily to visit a friend in Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant.
“People take life too seriously,” Thomas said. “That’s just who I am.”
Funny thing, though, is that the Cowboys’ much-maligned defense – and young secondary – could certainly use a proven leader like Thomas on the back end.
“We have great respect for him,” Garrett said. “He’s an outstanding football player, and he played very well today.”
Garrett didn’t specifically address the matter of Thomas making a play on the Cowboys. But read between the lines, and you know that he can imagine the possibilities.
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell .
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