Earl Thomas’ Seattle Seahawks career looked to have ended in the worst possible fashion on Sunday night as he aimed a middle finger at his own team’s sideline when being carted off the field in Arizona with a broken leg.
All-Pro safety Thomas stayed away from the team’s pre-season due to an ongoing contract dispute that saw him return to action without a new deal on top of the one that expires this season.
That left him the possibility of leaving as a free agent, but on the flip side he could now find himself out in the cold after picking up the long-term injury.
Seattle had been open to trading Thomas but had not yet found a partner willing to pay a high enough price, and Thomas had only returned to action to avoid missing out on around about $500,000 a week.
His frustration led to him aiming a middle finger at his sideline as he was carried from the field, and several members of his own team voiced their sympathy for the position he now finds himself in.
"I think that's the crazy part of our business. If he doesn't come, then he's not a team player," said linebacker Bobby Wagner. "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."
The Seahawks may have beaten the Cardinals on a last-gasp Sebastian Janikowski field goal, but defensive end Frank Clark says it felt like a loss due to Thomas’ injury.
"Yeah, we got the W," he said, "but I feel like we was the losers at the end of the day because we lost a Hall of Fame player, we lost a player who you can't replace.
"At the end of the day, that's why you ask for certain things. Earl wanted an extension and stuff like that, and at the end of the day he didn't get that.
“It sucks. It sucks to see a guy who, like I said, puts his all into his team and he doesn't get what he deserves.”