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After breaking his leg during a game versus the Arizona Cardinals in 2018, Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas expressed his displeasure with his head coach Pete Carroll by giving him the middle finger as he was carted off the field.
The assumption was that Thomas was mad that he had suffered a season-ending injury after the team refused to sign him to a new contract despite him sitting out all of the team’s offseason activities and preseason games in protest.
After the incident, many Seahawks players, both past and present, defended Thomas’ actions.
Even the man who was the target of the obscene gesture, Pete Carroll, said he understood what Thomas was going through.
“People that are criticizing whatever happened don’t understand,” Carroll said in the aftermath. “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.”
This past March, Thomas told Peter King of NBC Sports, “I was in a battle with the team, and I chose to play, and I was betting on myself. So when it happened, it just added to my frustration. I did what I did, and I saw Pete Carroll, and I just was like, ‘You won. You won.’ Just a very disappointing day.”
Now, having signed a new four-year, $55 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens, Thomas once again addressed why he did what he did.
Speaking to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, Thomas said, “I don’t regret my decision. If my teammates felt like it was toward them, I regret that part. But I don’t regret doing that to Pete.”
He said the reason he did it was because he didn’t believe Carroll was being sincere when he showed concern for Thomas on the field following the injury.
“I gave Pete the middle finger because I felt like he wasn’t being honest with me,” said Thomas.
Earl Thomas doesn't regret his actions toward Pete Carroll in his final game with Seattle.
(via @JosinaAnderson) pic.twitter.com/ZEtC9yl2NV
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 25, 2019
Carroll and Thomas have not spoken since that day, and the safety confirmed that his relationship with Carroll was already damaged as a result of contract negotiations.
“Pete and the front office didn’t value me like they used to, and I just talked to Coach Carroll, and he was saying how he was trying to get me in the plans of getting a new contract. But I got hurt the next week,” said Thomas.
The Ravens take on the Seahawks in Seattle on October 20th. Get your popcorn ready.