Earl Thomas hopes to play at end of preseason

The Seattle Seahawks might be lining up against the St. Louis Rams in Week 1 of the 2015 NFL regular season with half of the Legion of Boom. With cornerback Byron Maxwell having left for the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency, the Seahawks might be down another LOB member with Earl Thomas still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Yet, Rapoport states that Thomas hopes to play late in the preseason and then be ready for the season opener.

"“The hope for Thomas is to be active after starting the preseason on the PUP list,” Rapoport reported on NFL Total Access on Thursday, “to be active for the third or fourth preseason game, get himself into game shape quickly and be ready for Week 1.”"

So how could an absence of Thomas be a major problem?

Without Thomas, the Seahawks would be losing one half of the best safety tandem in football. Kam Chancellor is arguably the best free safety in the game, but lacks the coverage skills of Thomas. The former University of Texas stars is the best center-fielding type of safety we have seen since Ed Reed in his prime, so opponents will be more likely to test Seattle deep down the middle.

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The easy retort to that idea is getting pressure on the quarterback, but the Seahawks were not great doing that in 2014. The leading sack artist was Michael Bennett with seven, and the team only amassed 37. With time, offensive coordinators can scheme underneath routes for the tight end and Richard Sherman’s receiver, drawing man-to-man coverage down the field against Cary Williams with Thomas’ replacement, perhaps Ryan Smith-Murphy.

The Seahawks will survive for a couple of weeks without Thomas, but a once-vaunted pass defense will suddenly have easy weaknesses to exploit.