In case you needed a reminder, this is why players hold out.
Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, the last remaining member of Seattle’s “Legion of Boom,” was carted off the field with a leg injury during Seattle’s game Sunday.
As he was getting taken to the locker room, camera’s caught Thomas giving someone the bird. While the specific recipient remains unknown, he quite clearly was flipping off his own sideline.
(You can watch the ordeal here and here)
So why did Thomas give his sideline the one-finger salute? The reason seems pretty simple.
Thomas, who will be a free agent after this season, long has been asking the Seahawks to give him the lucrative contract he’s looking for or trade him. Seattle has done neither.
Instead of taking the Le’Veon Bell route of just sitting out altogether, the 29-year-old has elected to play, and now he could find himself in a tough spot at the negotiating table next offseason if his injury is serious. That, of course, is why players in contract years elect to hold out.
There possibly could be another reason for the gesture, but logic points to frustration with Seahawks brass being the cause. And if that is, indeed, the case, we can’t say we blame him.
