#Earl Thomas told Ravens he ‘had to get his car washed’ as excuse for being late

The details of Earl Thomas’ departure from Baltimore include a little detailing.

The seven-time Pro Bowl safety had his contract terminated Sunday for what Ravens coach John Harbaugh termed “personal conduct that adversely affected the Baltimore Ravens.”

Thomas got into an altercation with teammate Chuck Clark during practice last week, but he reportedly also was fined repeatedly for being late to team meetings, including one time this summer when he claimed he was late because he was getting his car washed.

“This goes back to the beginning of his tenure with the Ravens, because it was bad last year too. He was late to meetings and they warned him after he got fined repeatedly, ‘look, at some point this is going to be conduct detrimental, which would affect your contract,’” reporter Mike Silver said Monday on NFL Network. “That was last year. And then things picked up right where they left off at this training camp, and not in a good way.

“A couple of days before the altercation with Chuck Clark, he had complained that he needed more time between practice and meetings and then explained that he was late to meetings because he had to get his car washed that day, which was a creative interpretation of that.”

Regarding Friday’s on-field clash with Clark, Silver added that Thomas “blew a red-zone assignment,” causing an angered Clark to get in his teammate’s face.

“Chuck Clark reacted emphatically, throwing his helmet, he was upset,” Silver said. “Earl Thomas essentially said ‘Hey, it’s cool,’ and Chuck Clark said, ‘No, it’s not cool. You need to go to meetings and walk-through and maybe you’ll get it.’ That’s how the fight started, but this has been a long time brewing and not a good situation from the start.”

If the Ravens void his $10 million guaranteed salary for conduct detrimental to the team, Thomas will count $5 million against the salary cap this season and $10 million next year. If he had released outright, the Ravens would have absorbed a $15 million salary-cap hit this year and $10 million in 2021. Thomas would likely file a grievance if his contract is voided.

Thomas shared and later deleted a post to his Instagram account with his version of Friday’s fight with Clark, calling it “a mental error on my part” and “a busted coverage that I tried to explain calmly, met with built up aggression turned into me getting into it with a teammate.”

Before signing with Baltimore as a free agent before last season, the 31-year-old Thomas previously had played nine seasons for Pete Carroll in Seattle. Thomas infamously gave Carroll the finger while being carted off the field with an injury during the 2018 season.

“It’s been a tough time for Earl,” Carroll told reporters when asked Monday about Thomas’ release from the Ravens, according to the Seattle Times. “That’s a hard situation. I feel bad for him (and) wish he could have avoided that from happening, whatever that was … That’s a bad state to get in when they send you home.”

In April, Thomas’ wife Nina was arrested after Texas police charged that she pointed a loaded gun at Thomas’ head after she caught him in bed with another woman. TMZ reported Monday that Nina Thomas’ next court date is set for Sept. 3.