The market didn’t develop as Earl Thomas expected. He began free agency wanting to become the highest-paid safety in the game.
Landon Collins now is that, but Thomas did OK for himself with a four-year, $55 million deal that includes $32 million fully guaranteed.
Thomas, though, revealed Friday that he was close to taking a short-term deal with the Chiefs before the Ravens made their offer.
“I thought I was going to go Kansas City on like a two-year deal, one-year deal, and I was just going to bet on myself and hit the market again [next year or in 2021], and then my agents called me,” Thomas said, via the team website. ". . .They said that Baltimore has made a deal for you. I said, ‘Hell, yeah. That’s where I’m going.’”
Thomas, who joins a team that has had its share of Pro Bowl safeties, said he is going to pay back the Ravens for their faith in him.
“It checks off everything on the list that I need to know, and I’m going to give that commitment right back,” Thomas said of his long-term deal.