Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks haven't been on the best of terms lately. And that bad blood boiled over Sunday, when the injured defensive back offered an obscene gesture toward his own sideline while being carted off. No traditional thumbs up from Thomas, telling teammates he'll be OK after fracturing his leg. Nah, he just flipped the bird, a more fitting goodbye for the player who held out all of training camp. Le'Veon Bell chimes in on Earl Thomas' injury. pic.twitter.com/cmMbaezpRA — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 1, 2018 Thomas is in the final year of a deal paying him $8.5 million this season. He wanted a new contract, or to be traded. Thomas got neither, so he skipped all of training camp. Once he reported, the disgruntled Thomas reportedly refused to practice. Now he's headed to injured reserve, which is what the aging veteran feared.<doc-sep>This is why players hold out, using whatever leverage they have to get as much money as they can. Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas held out through the summer, hoping to get a better contract from the team. It wasn’t unreasonable. Thomas has played at a Hall of Fame level for the team during an unprecedented run of success for the Seahawks. Thomas ended his holdout and played when the Seahawks wouldn’t relent. And he ended up leaving Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals with a broken leg. Seahawks defensive back Earl Thomas is greeted by Cardinals players as he leaves the field after breaking his leg during the second half. (AP) BREAKING! #Seahawks safety Earl Thomas has a lower leg fracture, per Pete Carroll. — Liz Mathews (@Liz_Mathews) September 30, 2018 And as he left, he flipped the middle finger, seemingly at the Seahawks sideline. Earl telling Seahawks sidelines how he feels. pic.twitter.com/Wm7Z0kzLF0 — Nico Tomacelli (@HypnotiqNico) September 30, 2018 Earl Thomas injured defending a touchdown pass Thomas injured himself coming over to cover a touchdown by Cardinals receiver Chad Williams. Initially, it was hard to tell what the injury was, but he was down for a while. Usually the injury cart doesn’t come out unless it’s something serious. X-rays later confirmed Thomas broke his leg on the play. Seahawks teammates gathered around Thomas, one of the leaders of that team. He was loaded on the cart. And as he left, he gave a one-finger salute that brought to a head exactly how tense things had gotten between him and the team. An ugly situation between Thomas and Seahawks Thomas has been sitting out some practices with what could be considered minor ailments. He explained that he was investing in himself because the team didn’t want to give him more financial security. Story continues Thomas’ holdout got ugly. He didn’t show up until Week 1. The team was holding out for a lot in a trade; a report Sunday said they were not giving him up for anything less than a second-round pick. Thomas didn’t want to play for a team that didn’t show him the respect he thought he deserved, the Seahawks were willing to hang onto him and get what they could out of him, and perhaps trade him if someone was willing to meet their price. If Thomas’ injury is significant, the latter won’t be happening anymore. It has been a bad situation for the Seahawks and one of the greatest players in team history. It got much worse with the injury, and Thomas’ gesture as he left on a cart. Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) was injured defending a touchdown pass to Arizona’s Chad Williams. (AP) – – – – – – – Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Subscribe to The Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast Apple Podcasts• Stitcher • Google Podcasts More NFL coverage from Yahoo Sports: • Cardinals QB Bradford loses small fortune after demotion • Report: Steelers ‘actively shopping’ star player • Rookie head coach makes bold call to win in OT • Bears star ejected for shoving ref in blowout win<doc-sep>Last week, Seattle’s Earl Thomas bowed toward the Dallas sideline after making an interception, taunting the Cowboys for having failed to trade for him. On Sunday, Thomas made an even more pointed gesture toward his own sideline while getting carted off the field with a leg injury that almost certainly means he won’t be traded to anybody, anytime soon.<doc-sep>
The relationship between Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks appears to have gone from bad to worse. During the fourth quarter of Seattle's 20-17 win over Arizona, Thomas had to be carted off the field after suffering a left leg injury following a Cardinals touchdown. After the game, Pete Carroll announced that Thomas would be placed on injured reserve with a fractured left leg. The injury came with some drama for the Seahawks. As Thomas was being carted off, he turned toward the team's bench area and decided to flip the bird at someone. Earl Thomas appeared to flip the bird at his own bench. Fox/NFL It's not clear who specifically the middle finger was intended for, but Thomas was definitely staring down the Seahawks' sideline when he flashed his middle finger. We can't show you the picture, but if you click here, you can see video of the incident. If the middle finger was intended for someone on the Seahawks' sideline, it wouldn't be a huge surprise. There's been some bad blood between the two sides over the past few months. Thomas held out for all of training camp hoping for a new contract, but the Seahawks never even made him an offer. With no new deal, Thomas finally reported just before the start of the regular season so that he wouldn't miss any paychecks. The safety is currently in the final year of a deal that is paying him $8.5 million in base salary this season. Although Thomas reported to the team, that didn't really fix anything. Instead of holding out, he started "holding in," which basically means that he refused to practice. After Thomas missed multiple practices, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll promised that there would be "consequences." With Thomas now headed to IR, it could mean that he's now played his last down with Seattle.