Byron Maxwell, Frank Clark and Earl Thomas MIA from OTAs, and that’s ‘bad news’ for Seahawks
May 25, 2018, 3:19 PM | Updated: 3:20 pm
Seahawks' safety Earl Thomas was absent during Seattle's open OTA session Thursday. (AP)
(AP)
There were plenty of highlights from the Seahawks’ first open OTAs session Thursday, but notably absent for Seattle was cornerback Byron Maxwell, defensive end Frank Clark, and free safety Earl Thomas. While this phase of offseason training is voluntary, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny O’Neil can’t help but feel this is bad news for the Seahawks.
“Those are three of your more important players,” O’Neil said during the “Good News, Bad News, No News” segment of Brock and Salk. “I would say that of your top-10 most important players on this team, Earl Thomas and Frank Clark are cetainly two of them, and they’re not here. That’s not good news. It’s bad news. I hope it turns out to be relatively insignificant bad news. But this is not a neutral. They are voluntary, but the fact that they’re not here means that there is a disconnect, in at least some minimal way, between two of your better players and the team’s goals for this year.”
Clark, 24, is entering the final year of his 4 -year, $3,732,225 rookie deal. Likewise, the 29-year-old Thomas is preparing to enter the final year of his contract and has previously stated his desire to get a new deal worked out.
And while Thomas’ absence could linger into next week, Carroll said Thursday he expects Thomas to return for the mandatory minicamp on June 12.
“That I can understand, the business perspective of a player saying, ‘Hey, I’m at a point where I’d like to be extended, and if I don’t get a contract extension I’m not going to go full participation in all of the extra flair that’s involved with it,'” O’Neil said. “That’s one of the only things of leverage that you can apply. But it would be more beneficial to everyone if those guys were there.”
