After a Summer-long holdout, Seahawks’ free safety Earl Thomas has returned to practice. He is expected to complete the final year of his contract at Seattle.
Through a post on his Instagram account, the 29-year old indicated he would be joining back to Seattle even though his grievances to the team were not met.
“I worked my whole life for this,” Thomas announced on Instagram. “I’ve never let my teammates, city of fans down as long as I’ve lived and don’t plan on starting this weekend.”
While he returns, Thomas said the disrespect he received from his team can’t be forgotten.
“…the disrespect has been well noted and will not be forgotten.”
Initially, the Seahawks were looking for trade deals but they reportedly turned down two offers from the Dallas Cowboys.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapaport, Thomas has agreed to complete his final year at the Seahawks. In return, the team has agreed to wipe out any fines the safety accrued for not joining them during the offseason period.
“While #Seahawks12 S Earl Thomas will play out the final year of his final deal in Seattle, the #Seahawks12 did agree to wipe away almost all of his fines, sources said. An offseason saga has ended,” @RapSheet Rapaport tweeted.
While #Seahawks S Earl Thomas will play out the final year of his deal in Seattle, the #Seahawks did agree to wipe away almost all of his fines, source said. An offseason saga has ended.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 5, 2018
Thomas’ absence from the Seahawks training camp had seen him accrue $1.6 million in fines. Had the team enforced the fines and Thomas continued to skip training, the 29-year old would have lost at least $500,000 each week for the rest of this year’s regular season.
