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Earl Thomas doesn't regret giving the middle finger to Pete Carroll

Earl Thomas was emotional when he decided to flip the middle finger to the Seattle Seahawks’ sideline, directed at coach Pete Carroll, as he was carted off with a broken leg last season.

Thomas wanted a new contract, Seattle didn’t give it to him and on the field in Arizona he knew he had just suffered a major injury. His frustration came out in the form of an obscene gesture. He admitted that might have kept him from getting a new contract with the Seahawks this offseason. Thomas eventually signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

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“I think I hurt myself too, by my actions getting carted off the field,” Thomas told ESPN’s Josina Anderson on “NFL Live.”

That doesn’t mean Thomas regrets what he did.

Earl Thomas didn’t think Pete Carroll was being honest

Thomas is one of this era’s great safeties, a part of the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl championship team. He’s also brutally honest.

Thomas told Anderson that he and Carroll had talked about a new contract right before he broke his leg in a Week 4 game at Arizona. Thomas indicated he thought Carroll wasn’t being genuine when he showed concern for him on the field after the injury.

“I gave Pete the middle finger because I felt like he wasn’t being honest with me,” Thomas said on ESPN.

Thomas said he hasn’t talked to Carroll since flipping him off. And even with months to cool off, Thomas doesn’t sound like he’d change anything.

“I don’t regret my decision,” Thomas told Anderson. “If my teammates felt like it was towards them, I regret that part. But I don’t regret doing it to Pete.”

Thomas chose Ravens over Chiefs

Thomas will go down as one of the iconic Seahawks of all-time, a key figure in the “Legion of Boom” defense. It will be strange to see him with the Ravens. Thomas said he committed to a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason, but the next day the Ravens offered him a better deal.

“I said, I’m taking that,” Thomas said with a laugh.

As for his relationship with his longtime coach, that might take a while to mend.

“I feel like we’ve got to walk with each other the rest of our lives. We won a Super Bowl together,” Thomas told Anderson. “But they’ll love you one minute and they’ll hate you the next, I feel like that’s our relationship. That’s just how it is in the game. I’m not speaking for every coach, it’s just my experience.

“It’s a business, at the end of the day. I think my time just ran out. Pete and the front office, they didn’t value me, I guess, like they used to.”

Former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) as he left the field after breaking his leg last season. (AP)
Former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) as he left the field after breaking his leg last season. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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