More than six months after the Ravens cut safety Earl Thomas, his grievance against the team has still not been resolved.
At issue is whether the Ravens were required to pay Thomas a $10 million salary for the 2020 season. The Ravens didn’t pay it, saying he violated his contract with misconduct that included punching a teammate in practice. Thomas argued that the salary was guaranteed and that he hadn’t done anything that would allow the Ravens to withhold his pay.
Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta said today that the issue is “ongoing” and he couldn’t comment on it. He did not sound like he expects the grievance to be resolved any time soon.
For the purposes of salary cap accounting, the Ravens were charged half of Thomas’s salary on last year’s cap and will be charged the other half if they lose the grievance. If the Ravens win the grievance, they get $5 million credited back to their cap. So winning the grievance will give the Ravens additional cap space, while losing it will make it that much harder for them to squeeze free agents under their cap.
Thomas was widely regarded as one of the best safeties in the NFL for many years, but he did not play at all last year and it’s unclear whether he’ll play this year.
