Earl Thomas: Shoulder injury the biggest story no one is talking about

By Keith Myers | Jul 27, 2015

The Russell Wilson contract negotiations are dominating the media coverage on the Seattle Seahawks right now. For all the drama, that story won’t have any effect on the Seahawks’ season in 2015. Another story that everyone seems to be ignoring is the one that has the potential to cause Seattle some serious headaches this year.

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All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas played in the Super Bowl last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder. He had surgery after the game, and the typical recovery time is six to eight months.

Do the math, and you’ll realize that six months from his surgery is midway through training camp. The eight-month mark is just before Halloween. That would mean that he’d miss as many as six games this season.

Missing regular season games isn’t likely for Thomas, but it is a possibility. If he misses any time, it would be a major problem for Seattle’s defense.

Seattle’s defensive scheme is built around Thomas’ skills more than anyone else. The defense is so dependent on Thomas’ speed it is difficult to describe all the things he does that cannot be replaced.

Earl’s backup is Deshawn Shead. Shead is a good special teams player, and able to fill in for Thomas on the occasional down. There is nothing in his tape that suggests that he can fill in for Thomas and do everything that he does for an extended stretch.

Thomas is simply a unique player. There is no one else quite like him in the NFL.

Without him, the Seahawks will be forced to play more cover 2 man and cover four, instead of their typical cover 1 and cover 3. That’ll pull Kam Chancellor out of the box, which is where he is at his best.

Having Kam play deep has major consequences for the rest of Seattle defense. For example, against the run the Seahawks use Chancellor like a linebacker. He has his own gap responsibilities.

Without him in the box, there is another gap that must be covered by the linebackers. That slows their reaction time as the must read the gaps and blocking before attacking upfield.

Thus losing Thomas at the back end of the defense would have a significant impact on the run defense up front. This is only one of many such changes that losing Earl for any significant time would have.

So while everyone frets over the contract situation of a player that’ll be in Seattle for at least three more seasons no matter what happens, they’re ignoring a potentially serious on the other side of the ball.

The Seahawks have reason for concern here. Perhaps it is time that everyone actually starts paying attention to this story.

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