Seahawks safety Earl Thomas expected to be ready for 2017 season

After a severe injury ended his 2016 campaign, Seahawks’ safety Earl Thomas is on track to be ready for the start of next season.

In Week 13 of last season against the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks’ free safety Earl Thomas got the worst of a collision with teammate Kam Chancellor. A fracture left tibia ended Thomas’ season, and for whatever it’s worth his tweet the night after the game suggested he was thinking about retirement.

Thomas later confirmed he was not retiring, but there’s been little news about him since late December. Speaking to reporters at the NFL Combine on Thursday, Seahawks’ head coach Pete Carroll changed that, via ESPN’s Sheil Kapadia, regarding Thomas being ready for the start of the year.

"“I think so,” Carroll told reporters. “All indications are that he will make it back. He’s doing very well.”"

ESPN’s Ed Werder added some words from Thomas himself.

The Seahawks clearly missed Thomas’ presence on the back end of the secondary when he was out at the end of last season, allowing more than 30 points in three of their last six games with 12 passing touchdowns allowed and just one interception. Prior to a hamstring injury that caused him to miss Week 12 last season, Thomas had been a picture of durability with 118 consecutive games played.

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Thomas is somehow still only 27 years old (28 in May), so he should still have a lot of peak years left. A fluke injury like a broken leg, while it caused him to consider retirement, is hardly a sign of looming durability concerns for Thomas. “The Legion Boom” is on track to have its most important player back for Week 1 of 2017, which is bad news for opposing passing games.