Baltimore Ravens’ Decision To Release Earl Thomas Very Easy

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The Baltimore Ravens released Earl Thomas this past weekend, and in hindsight, the move wasn’t all that surprising.

“I think Earl’s tenure last year with the Ravens was up and down,” Super Bowl champion and former Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta said on The Zach Gelb Show. “I think he started the year pretty rocky. There was a lot of missed assignments. I know his relationships in the locker room weren’t as strong as I think the Ravens had hoped. There was certainly some reported missed meetings or late appearances to meetings, which is not tolerated in that organization in that building. 

“The one thing they always preach over there is, ‘Team, team, team,’” Pitta continued. “That is Coach [John] Harbaugh’s mantra from day one. You are not more than the team; it’s simply about the team and everything you can do to add value to that team. From an outsider’s perspective – and this is purely speculation – but it sounded like he was not all the way bought in. He was not willing to be the leader necessarily and the example to that young, talented core that the Ravens have right now. So the Ravens were willing to part ways.”

Thomas had an altercation with teammate Chuck Clark at practice last Friday. In fact, Thomas reportedly threw a punch at Clark and was sent home. He was released two days later.

“Listen, whenever the distraction off the field outweighs the production on the field, the decision becomes very easy,” Pitta said. “In this case, it seems like he did enough. This last fight with Chuck Clark on the field was just another incident in a long string of things. You can also point back to the incident early in the offseason in May with his wife and all that.”

Thomas’ wife reportedly held Thomas at gunpoint due to alleged infidelity.

“There was a number of things that started to stack up against him – to the point where the Ravens felt like he was becoming a distraction in the locker room,” Pitta said. “He was not getting along with many of the teammates there. Obviously that last fight was an example of that. This was a number of things. This was not a single incident. This was not a single fight. Listen, there’s fights every single day in training camp, so that was nothing out of the norm. But it was just a sequence of events that culminated in his release given this last fight.”

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