Earl Thomas is gone and the Ravens are moving on, but some baggage remains

The end came via a 17-word press release sent about 45 minutes before the Ravens took the practice field Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.

“We have terminated S Earl Thomas’ contract for personal conduct that has adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens.”

The wording made it clear that the Ravens were not just releasing Thomas. They are going to try to avoid paying the $10 million in guaranteed salary he’s owed in 2020, too.

By the time the press release dropped into email inboxes, it had seemed inevitable. The Ravens could no longer tolerate Thomas’ behavior, which they deemed unprofessional and an impediment to a unified locker room. That message was sent Friday when they sent him home and told him to stay there until further notice.

Thomas punching fellow safety Chuck Clark in practice earlier that day might have been the final straw, but it was hardly the only thing that factored into the decision, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

The decision was based on a pattern of behavior that included Thomas not showing up to or coming late to meetings, blowing off walk-through practices, not listening to coaches and having confrontations with teammates, sources said. Clark wasn’t the first Ravens player to get into it with Thomas. “It’s a long list,” one member of the organization said. Thomas, according to sources, had already been fined several times since training camp started earlier this month.

The Thomas-Clark scuffle came after Thomas misplayed a coverage in Friday’s practice, leading to a long touchdown catch for tight end Mark Andrews. Clark, normally one of the Ravens’ most mild-mannered players, spiked his helmet in frustration. He then confronted Thomas, who took Clark by surprise by throwing a punch.

Clark tried to get back at Thomas, but he was held back by several coaches and players. He wasn’t the only player enraged by Thomas’ actions. Several veterans, already weary of Thomas’ behavior, told head coach John Harbaugh after the altercation that they preferred that the Ravens moved forward without Thomas even though that meant the team losing one of its most accomplished defensive players three weeks before the regular-season opener against the Cleveland Browns.

About 48 hours later, they got their wish. Now, the Ravens, a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, have a hole at free safety in their otherwise talented secondary and a potential salary-cap headache with which to deal. And predictably, they also have no desire to talk about Thomas.

“I think the statement speaks for itself,” Harbaugh said when he was asked about the team releasing Thomas on a Zoom video call late Sunday afternoon. The statement was the Ravens’ 17-word press release that announced the transaction.

Two more attempts to get Harbaugh to comment on Thomas, including a question about the player’s impact on the decision, were met with similar responses. “All eyes ahead,” he said.

Ravens pass defensive coordinator Chris Hewitt, who probably worked more with Thomas than any other coach on Harbaugh’s staff, also didn’t entertain any questions about the veteran safety.

“I think (Harbaugh) already talked about that,” Hewitt said. “I think we’re moving on in a different direction. You guys want to keep talking about Earl Thomas. I think we’ve already addressed that.”

So you get the point. The Ravens are moving on and the immediate ramifications of the Thomas decision are this: DeShon Elliott, a third-year safety who has been limited to just six career games because of injuries, is now the internal favorite to start at safety alongside Clark. “It’s his time,” Harbaugh said.

The Ravens’ other options include rookie seventh-round pick Geno Stone, veteran Anthony Levine Sr. and cornerback Jimmy Smith, who is expected to get some looks at safety this year. The Ravens also could explore bringing in a veteran free agent. The list of available defensive backs includes former Ravens Tony Jefferson, Brandon Carr and Darian Stewart, Logan Ryan, Eric Reid and Reshad Jones.

Releasing Thomas immediately opens up $6 million of salary-cap space, giving the Ravens between $13 million to $14 million of cushion total. That’s certainly enough to make a move for a veteran safety or perhaps target an upgrade at another position.

The concern is how releasing Thomas impacts the Ravens financially. By jettisoning Thomas one season into a four-year, $55 million deal that figures to haunt general manager Eric DeCosta for some time, the Ravens could be absorbing $25 million of dead money over the next two years.

Fifteen million this year matches what was his expected salary-cap number in 2020 anyway, so that’s essentially a wash. However, the $10 million tab next year could be damaging with the cap dropping by as much as $23 million in response to the expected loss of revenue from playing a season amid a pandemic.

By releasing Thomas for “personal conduct that has adversely affected” the team, the Ravens revealed their intentions not to pay Thomas the $10 million in guaranteed money he’s owed this year. They’ll have to officially notify the impacted parties of that in the days ahead.

What will almost certainly follow is a grievance filed by the NFLPA on Thomas’ behalf. That could result in a long, drawn-out process where the onus will be on the Ravens to prove their case.

“It is not easy — nor in my view should it be easy — for teams to prove ‘conduct detrimental,’ ” said The Athletic’s Amy Trask, the former CEO of the Oakland Raiders. Trask is also an analyst for CBS Sports. “I believe that not only should the burden of proof be on the team (to prove this) but that the burden should be significant.”

Trask said the Ravens will have to demonstrate that Thomas’ actions “rose to the level of conduction detrimental” and Thomas was given a warning and an opportunity to correct his behavior.

The grievances can be challenging for teams to win because they need to show a pattern of detrimental conduct and behavior along with the steps the organization took in trying to remedy it.

It’s unclearly when the grievance process will begin and it’s certainly possible, if not probable, that it won’t be until 2021. As of now, the Ravens will immediately carry $4 million of dead money for the Thomas release on their cap, yet still come out $6 million ahead from his initial cap number at least until a decision is made.

Perhaps not wanting to give the Ravens any more fodder for their argument, Thomas, who now has an opportunity to field free-agent offers with two of his home state teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans already being mentioned as potential suitors, struck a conciliatory tone on his Instagram account after learning of his release.

“Appreciate the Ravens organization for the opportunity. Had a great run,” Thomas wrote. “Wish things would have ended different but you live and you learn. Thank you Eric DeCosta and everyone else who played a role in bringing me to B-more. Wish you guys the best.”

The Ravens statement was significantly and predictably shorter and that was telling. They couldn’t move on soon enough.

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)