Ravens cut ties with star safety Thomas
The Baltimore Ravens have terminated the contract of seven-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas, who got involved in a fight with a teammate Friday and did not attend practice Saturday.
According to a statement released Sunday by the team, Thomas was released “for personal conduct that adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens.”
The action stems from Thomas’ fray with defensive back Chuck Clark at practice after Thomas admittedly blew a coverage assignment.
Asked to comment on Thomas’ brief stay with the Ravens, Coach John Harbaugh replied, “We’re good. Moving forward. Eyes ahead.”
If Thomas was released outright, Baltimore would have taken a $15 million salary-cap hit this year and $10 million in 2021. By voiding his $10 million guaranteed salary for conduct detrimental to the team, he will count $5 million against the cap this season and $10 million next year.
Thomas posted an explanation for his behavior Friday on his Instagram account, but subsequently deleted it. The post said: “A mental error on my part .. A Busted coverage that I tried to explain calmly meet with built up aggression turned into me getting into with a teammate.”
He also wrote, “Being sent home sucks.”
NFL HAS FALSE POSITIVE TESTS FROM N.J. LAB >> The NFL had 77 positive COVID-19 tests from 11 teams re-examined by a New Jersey lab after false positives, and all those tests came back negative.
The league asked the New Jersey lab BioReference to investigate the results, and those 77 tests are being re-tested once more to make sure they were false positives.
Among teams reporting false positives, the Minnesota Vikings said they had 12, the New York Jets 10 and the Chicago Bears nine.
The Jets canceled a walkthrough Saturday night but had a full practice Sunday morning after the previously positive tests came back negative. The Bears moved their practice scheduled for Sunday morning to the afternoon.
The Detroit Lions had a player with a false positive test from the same lab in New Jersey and he was held out of practice Sunday, a league source told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league and team were not disclosing test results.
The Pittsburgh Steelers said they had six false positives and those players will be back at practice today. The Philadelphia Eagles held out four players from working out Sunday. The Cleveland Browns initially canceled practice, but after re-testing turned up negative tests they decided to have their workout.
There are five labs nationwide that service the 32 teams, with only the New Jersey facility having the false positives this weekend. ALSO >> The Cleveland Browns signed former Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith to help bolster their thin linebacking corp . ... The Arizona Cardinals have signed veteran cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick to boost their secondary after a season-ending injury to Robert Alford . ... Washington released Cody Latimer on Sunday amid his legal issues before he practiced a single snap with the team. He was arrested in May and charged with a felony count of illegal discharge of a firearm.