It will be really interesting to see how this affects ET. He is a sure-fire HOFer in his prime and wants to be one of the highest paid safeties in the league (around 13 mil/year with 40 mil guaranteed). The market completely fell off a cliff for Safeties last year as the best deal signed was a 1 year 7 mil contract by Mathieu. This year looks like it will be almost as bad, although Eric Reid did sign a 3 year deal worth a little over 7 mil/year. Who knows what will happen, but in the end one has to wonder if he would have been able to sign for just as much and stayed in Seattle. Maybe it works out for him and he gets 13 mil plus a year, but if he settles for 11 or so mil it would be really surprising if he wouldn't have gotten that had he stayed in Seattle.
obiken wrote:HOFamer? Ok, I guess, but I would take Ken Easley any day. He covered like a blanket and hit like he was shot out of a gun!
Different era, obi. It wasn't so QB-centric back then, they didn't have near the rules that protects QB's and receivers, no 4 WR sets, very little shotgun formations, no RPO's, etc. As great as he was, Easley would not have been able to be the lone, deep safety and cover from sideline to sideline like Earl was asked to do. He would have had to have been a strong safety more in the mold of what Kam Chancellor was for us.
That's why I don't like comparing players from different eras. NFL football is too dynamic and changes too much for us to make valid comparisons.
Earl is a sure fire HOF'er. He'll be elected in his first year of eligibility. There's only a handful of active defensive players you can say that about, JJ Watt being the only one I can think of at the moment, and he's never even had a sniff at a SB.