Earl Thomas Signs With The Ravens On a 4 Year $55M Deal

Alright alright alright, here’s somethin. It’s a fairly expensive price tag, but there’s no question that Earl Thomas is a quality safety who has been around the block a time or two. The Browns made their move last night acquiring one of the league’s best wideouts, and Eric DeCosta has answered by opening up his checkbook a bit. You didn’t really think we were going to sit around and do completely nothing, did you?

I know I preached yesterday about discipline with regards to spending in the free agent market. There’s certainly a time and a place for it. I believe this to be one of those times. We let Eric Weddle go in order to free $7.5M in cap space. We knew what we were sacrificing a shell of a player ability-wise, and that a void would be left on the leadership front. Earl Thomas certainly fills that void, and he brings a lot more to the table. He may have missed some time to a freak injury last year, but he’s far better in coverage than Weddle probably ever was, and brings some bite with him too. He plays physical football, which is exactly what the Ravens are all about. Earl Thomas couldn’t be more of what John Harbaugh describes as a “Raven”.

I believe this is the best secondary in football. When healthy, there might not be a better cornerback quartet than Marlon Humphrey, Jimmy Smith, Brandon Carr, and Tavon Young. That’s a ferocious gang that is well suited to play in today’s NFL. Adding one of the league’s best safeties to the mix on top of that is just unfair.

Stop your bitching about what the Ravens lost yesterday and focus on what they have. Wink Martindale is still going to have one of the league’s best defenses, no question. There will be a run game and improvement in the passing game to go with it. The Browns are still the Browns until they aren’t, and the Ravens are still the Kings of the AFC North until somebody takes it from us. The Browns can have all the fun they want in March, but it’ll be the Ravens that’ll be there come winter to punch em right in the mouth. Couldn’t be more fired up for my defense.