Former Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas hasn’t appeared in an NFL game in five years, yet his confidence clearly remains high.
Thomas, who spent his latest NFL season with Baltimore in 2019 after nine with the Seattle Seahawks, appeared on NFL insider Josina Anderson’s new “The Exhibit” podcast and proceeded to make one of the boldest claims the league has ever seen. The 33-year-old claimed that not only is he the best safety in the league despite being out of football for half a decade, but claimed he is better than two all-time great safeties in Ravens legend Ed Reed and Pittsburgh Steelers icon Troy Polamalu.
“I know I still can play…. cause my opportunities were slim to none after I had that incident in Baltimore… it has to be a good atmosphere where coaches are going to go out there and let me play and communicate I know the plays and the formations; just an atmosphere where they understand me,” Thomas said. “I’m still the best safety in the league… I would just know, I’m better than Ed Reed. I’m better than Troy Polamalu….I know a lot of Seattle fans would agree. I know for sure that 2013 team -we don’t win a Super Bowl without me.”
It’s very difficult to make Ravens and Steelers fans mad in the same sentence, but Thomas probably just found a way.
Thomas was an exceptional player in his own right, earning seven Pro Bowl selections, three first-team All-Pro nods and a spot on the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. However, Reed and Polamalu are among the best safeties to ever play, and they had very different play styles as well. The list of safeties better than them is incredibly short (if it exists at all), and Thomas, as good a player as he was, is not on it.
Besides, it’s not like Thomas was particularly well-liked in Baltimore to begin with. “That incident” he referred to was him getting into a fight with teammate Chuck Clark during training camp in 2020, which led to his release for “personal conduct that has adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens.” Even before then, reports of a rift between him and the team were widespread.
Thomas’ most memorable play as a Raven was probably being on the receiving end of two stiff arms by Derrick Henry, who is ironically now a Raven himself.
Despite Thomas’ talent, it’s not hard to see why he only lasted one year in Baltimore, and why he hasn’t played in the NFL since.
