Earl Thomas was sent home from the Baltimore Ravens team facility on Friday following a fight with teammate Chuck Clark, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Saturday morning confirming multiple reports.
The incident between Thomas and Clark started with a small issue of a missed assignment by Thomas, a source said. Thomas and Clark yelled at each other on the sideline and had to be restrained by teammates and coaches. Thomas put up his fists at one point.
Suddenly, a sideline argument escalated with about 15 minutes left in the morning practice. Clark had to be held back by teammates, while Thomas appeared to ball his fists as Clark approached him. It halted practice for a minute, and tempers seemed to cool.
After a couple of plays in the red zone, Clark again moved toward Thomas, who by then was standing near one end of the cluster of players on the sideline with renewed arguments. This got worse within no time and made a big fuss and Earl Thomas was sent home from the Baltimore Ravens team facility. Pelissero also reported that the Ravens returned to the practice field on Saturday, but Thomas was not there.
But it’s very unusual and disgracing to see a heated argument like this between two players in the same position group, that too over a tiny issue.
The authority made this decision as this is the second time Thomas has had a confrontation with a teammate in two seasons in Baltimore. Last year, Thomas had a heated exchange with nose tackle Brandon Williams after a game against Cleveland. And obviously, they can’t let it go every time
Thomas, a seven-time Pro Bowl safety, signed a four-year, $55 million deal with Baltimore in March 2019. He ended his nine long years journey with Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll while being carted off the field with a leg injury.
This player was having a bad time since many days in both professional and personal life. This incident just added some more twists to the list.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that he didn’t see what had prompted the confrontation and was not absolutely ready for this. The circumstances were unusual, as this was not a padded practice, and players on the same side of the ball or of the same position group, hardly act like this.
He gave his statement over an interview, “We’ll find out the details of it. It just lasted longer than it needed to for me. You’re going to have these things in training camp. I think you’re going to have tempers flare, sure. It happens every training camp, especially right about now, probably. But I don’t like them when they extend like that and eat into our reps, and we’re going to have to find out why and make sure that doesn’t happen. We need to keep our eye on the prize, which is preparing for the [Cleveland] Browns.”
Till now, no specific follow up of the heated news, but everyone’s looking forward to some more confrontation silently!
