EARL THOMAS’ EXTENSION GIVING SEAHAWKS FITS

As the time for the 2018 National Football League’s training camps gets nearer, I’m really confused about the status of Orange’s Earl Thomas with the Seattle Seahawks.

Thomas was expecting the final year of his current contract to be extended by the team soon after the 2017 season ended early this year. After all, that’s the normal procedure of what NFL teams do with their stars.

And by being a Pro Bowler in six of his eight years and a first team All-Pro three times with the Seahawks, Thomas definitely fits into the category of being a superstar. But here it is only a couple of weeks before training camps begin and Thomas is still waiting to hear from his team’s front office.

For the past eight seasons the Seahawks appeared to have treated Earl fairly and like a superstar, so their reluctance to extend Thomas’ contract is mind-boggling.

So, I did a little investigating to see if someone had a solution or at least a logical explanation or some kind of hypothesis of what the Seahawks might be thinking.

I went to the 12th Man website and got an inkling of what might be happening up in Seattle. The solution to this problem is not Earl but his fellow teammate in Seattle’s defensive secondary, veteran strong safety Kam Chancellor.

“The Seahawks need Earl Thomas more than ever since they lost Kam Chancellor, yet the loss of number 31 is exactly why Thomas is waiting for an extension,” the website revealed last week.

“Earl Thomas is holding out for a contract extension, and the Seahawks show no signs of giving him one. The biggest reason for the impasse is the fate of Kam Chancellor.

“Chancellor has apparently finished his stellar career with the Seahawks. Of course, this is a huge blow to the Legion of Boom. Richard Sherman is now with the hated 49ers. Shaquille Griffin and Bradley McDougald are just earning their places in the Legion. And Earl Thomas is just waiting to get paid,” the article added.

“Thomas has made it clear he feels he should be paid like the best safety in the league. And he’s right. He should be paid more than guys like Reshad Jones and Jimmy Ward.

“According to the excellent spotrac.com, six safeties will bring home more cash than Thomas this year. The man deserves an extension. You never know when one play can end your career. Just look at Chancellor,” the article pointed out.

The Seahawks want to avoid a replay of the Chancellor situation. That’s exactly what the Seahawks are doing. They’re looking at Chancellor, and especially his contract. He can’t play, but he also can’t retire. He’d lose a very large chunk of money if he did.

“To make it clear, neither Chancellor nor the team thinks he will play again becau-game winning streak. The Astros also had an eight-game winning streak against the A’s. Houston swept the Chicago White Sox last weekend finishing the season with a 7-0 sweep. They beat the ChiSox 2-1 Sunday on Marwin Gonzalez’ squeeze bunt with two strikes on him. The win puts the Astros a season-high 30 games over .500. Jose Altuve’s home run gave the team 15 consecutive games with a home run.

Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani belted a pinch home run to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-3 victory over the arch-rival LA Dodgers Sunday.

JUST BETWEEN US…The Houston Astros tied Boston and Cleveland with five players named to the American League All-Star team. The annual event will take place 7 p.m. Tuesday at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Actually, there will be six men wearing the orange-and-blue Astros uniform if Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch is included.

Three-time batting champion Jose Altuve is the only Astro named to the starting team, but teammates Alex Bregman, George Springer, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole were also voted to the team, although Verlander will pitch against his former team—the Detroit Tigers—Sunday and won’t be available for All-Star duty. Altuve’s 124 hits (through Sunday) are the second highest total posted by an Astro before the All-Star game, trailing only his 130 in 2014. Cole was nine shy of Mike Scott’s 167 strikeouts before the All-Star game prior to his game Monday night against the Oakland Athletics.

se of a neck injury suffered in November at Arizona,” the website stated.

“But for now, Chancellor also won’t retire due to the structure of his contract—if he retires he would give up injury guarantees for the 2018 and 2019 seasons of $6.8 million and $5.2 million (in fact the $6.8 million was guaranteed in February),” the article pointed out.

Although the Seahawks won’t have to carry Chancellor on the 53-man roster, it’s certain he’d be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.

If the injury appears to be healed and Chancellor does play in 2018, doctors have warned him that another neck injury could render him paralyzed for life.

“This clearly impacts Seattle and Earl Thomas. The team is justifiably a bit gun-shy about handing out another huge contract with big guarantees,” the article pointed out.

So, while the Seahawks stand pat on their refusal to extend Earl Thomas’ contract, they are willing to pay their other Pro Bowl safety $12 million over the next two seasons to never take another snap again.

Earl is adamant about either holding out for a contract extension or being traded.

He may not get his No. 29 uniform, but he’d look real good wearing that star on his Dallas Cowboys helmet.

KWICKIES…Kevin Na fired a six-under par 64 Sunday for a five-shot victory in the PGA Tour A Military Tribute at The Greenbriar in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Na finished 19-under par 261 and picked up the $1.31 million winner’s paycheck.

The AL West-leading Houston Astros went into Monday’s four-game series against Oakland riding a six