Report: Earl Thomas won’t be ready for start of camp, ‘uncertain’ for Week 1
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ed Werder, Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas will not be ready for the start of training camp and might not be ready for Week 1.
Thomas played through a torn labrum during the 2014 playoffs and clearly was not himself in the Super Bowl. He had offseason surgery right after the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots and even put up pictures of the operating room on Instagram.
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After reports surfaced in February that Thomas would be ready for the start of the season, the feeling was that the Seahawks and Thomas had dodged a bullet and would be in good shape. But shoulders, sports medicine people will tell you, are tricky and are not always as easy to rehabilitate as a knee or an ankle, for instance.
Thomas is the glue of maybe the NFL’s best secondary, which also features cornerback Richard Sherman, but there will be some challenges to maintain that perch. Sherman is coming off an elbow injury at the end of the season (which he opted to heal without surgery), Jeremy Lane required surgery on both his forearm and his knee and the team lost Byron Maxwell and reserve safety Jeron Johnson through free agency.
The Seahawks still should be strong on the back end — assuming Sherman and Lane return to health — with Kam Chancellor capable of holding the fort at safety and Cary Williams the expected replacement for Maxwell at corner. But the depth is shaky, and the Seahawks have a stiff early test this season at the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 in a rematch of the tremendous NFC championship game.
If Thomas is out for any extended period of time, it could be a huge blow to to the defense, which is on its third defensive coordinator — Kris Richard, elevated from secondary coach — in four seasons.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
