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When the Ravens released seven-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas on Sunday, many coaches and evaluators around the league were surprised and confused. Not that Thomas punched a fellow safety during practice, but that a team with a highly respected veteran head coach and a defined culture hadn't been able to minimize the impact of Thomas' behavior in his season-plus with the team. 

"If a guy like Harbaugh couldn't salvage him, that is odd," said a veteran evaluator. "Because Harbaugh and the Ravens aren't afraid of passionate, edgy guys." 

"That Baltimore thing is a little alarming because of the strong culture they have there," a personnel executive said. 

Thomas isn't radioactive everywhere yet, but based on Bleacher Report's conversations with sources around the league, teams are jarred by Thomas' abrupt release from Baltimore and aren't quite sure what to make of it. 

There are conflicting reports on whether the Cowboys are interested in Thomas. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, they are not expected to pursue him. However, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also said on 105.3 the Fan that Rapoport "doesn't know what he's talking about."

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, who previously coached Thomas as Seattle's defensive coordinator, told reporters Tuesday that the Falcons aren't interested. The head coaches for two other teams linked to Thomas, the 49ers and Texans, also denied any interest. (According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the free-agent safety teams are reaching out to is another former Raven, Tony Jefferson, who is nearly recovered from an ACL injury.)

Several sources brought up what happened in the offseason between Thomas and his wife as another factor that could concern teams evaluating the safety. According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Thomas' wife, Nina Thomas, was arrested in April after she said she pointed a gun at Earl's head during an argument. Nina said she confronted her husband at an Airbnb because she thought he was cheating on her. 

Thomas has already been a free agent for three days. The veteran evaluator cited above expects a team to sign Thomas eventually, but only "after he goes on an apology tour," he said. "The coaching fraternity is scratching their heads with the Ravens letting him walk out of the building. Earl will have to wait for that initial shock to wear off."

Thomas' agent did not return a call for comment. 

Another factor in how quickly Thomas might sign is coronavirus protocol. It takes three days to get a free agent in the building, because a player has to test negative three consecutive times for entry to a team facility. With the limitations to the offseason and a shortened training camp, many teams are still sorting out their current rosters. As the days go by, Thomas may end up having to agree to something short of his ideal contract. 

As teams around the league weigh the pros and cons, they'll dig into Thomas' behavior with the Ravens and Seahawks, and even earlier. 

Bleacher Report talked to multiple scouts who scouted Thomas at Texas when he declared for the 2010 draft, and none recalled Thomas having any pressing character issues coming into the pros. 

NBC Sports columnist Peter King reported that in Baltimore, Thomas was not well-liked by his teammates, he had a pattern of being late, he missed at least one walk-through with no valid excuse, and he made mistakes in practice because he was unprepared. King reported that Ravens players backed Chuck Clark, the teammate Thomas punched during an argument over a missed assignment, instead of Thomas. The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec reported that several veteran players told Harbaugh the team would be better off without Thomas. 

One source close to the Seahawks said he wasn't aware of Thomas having any of those issues in Seattle, from 2010 to '18. The source said Thomas has always been a unique personality, but he was well-liked by his Seattle teammates, and the Legion of Boom players were a very tight-knit group that spent a lot of time together off the field. "He is just wired differently," the source said. "There is almost an intensity about him." 

49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, who was close to Thomas in that Legion of Boom secondary, tweeted his support, saying, "It's really sad how things have played out for a man who is like a brother to me." Texans QB Deshaun Watson and Rams CB Jalen Ramsey also tweeted their support for Thomas, with whom they share the same agent.

An agent who represented a former Seattle teammate of Thomas' said that Thomas changed after the Seahawks lost Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015. The agent said Thomas was known for being entitled, and he didn't study the playbook enough, so fellow safety Kam Chancellor bailed him out frequently on the field. The previous offseason, Seattle had made Thomas the highest-paid safety in the league. 

With the amount of digging that NFL teams do in the free-agent process, the Ravens likely had all the background on Thomas and knew what they were getting. The last visual of Thomas in a Seahawks jersey was a telling sign. He raised a middle finger to head coach Pete Carroll while riding the injury cart off the field with a broken leg that ended his 2018 season. Thomas had been in a contract dispute with the team since the previous offseason, and he told ESPN he didn't think Carroll's concern about his injury was honest. 

Carroll encourages his players to be themselves and allows more freedom for that than most NFL head coaches. Back in the Legion of Boom days, when the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII and then returned to the title game the following season, Carroll cultivated "a brash, renegade atmosphere," in the words of the personnel evaluator who found the Baltimore situation "a little alarming."

Another veteran evaluator brought up former Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett as an example of a Seahawks LOB-era player who struggled after leaving Seattle to play for a new team. Bennett played for the Eagles, Patriots and Cowboys in 2018 and '19, and was suspended for one week by New England last season for what he called "a philosophical disagreement" with his position coach. The evaluator raised an interesting question: Does Seattle's rare ability to handle multiple alpha personalities make it difficult for those players to adjust when they move on to a different team structure and culture? 

Sherman's career would prove otherwise, as he is an example of a big personality who found success after leaving Seattle for San Francisco as a free agent in 2018.

Defensive end Bruce Irvin started his career as a Seahawk in 2012 and then left to play four seasons with the Raiders, Falcons and Panthers. Now he's back in Seattle, and in a recent media availability, Irvin told reporters he had no idea how different it was in Seattle until he left.

"This is a very special place, and it took me to leave here to really notice that," he said. "I was a young guy who when I was here, I'd say, 'S--t, I wonder how it is on another team.' And [VP of player engagement Maurice] Kelly would always tell me, 'The grass isn't always greener,' and when I got to other teams, I really realized that it is really a good situation over here and guys hold each other accountable." 

"I think there is something to that," the source close to Seattle said. "Earl had this alpha personality anyway and then team success, the money that comes with that, they all got paid at the top of their positions, so how do you ever put that away? How do you suppress that part of yourself to fit in?" 

This moment is a turning point for Thomas. At 31 years old and entering his 11th season, he's nearing the end of his career. Thomas struggled to adjust to a new Ravens defense (just ask Derrick Henry or Nick Chubb) and only had two interceptions, but he was still voted to the Pro Bowl, and he's still an elite player who can improve the backfield of many defenses in the league. 

Wherever Thomas winds up signing next and however he acts with his new team will define his post-LOB legacy, which for now is defined by two actions: a middle finger and a punch. 

Kalyn Kahler covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow her on Twitter for NFL musings and weird quarantine thoughts: @KalynKahler. 

The Los Angeles Rams' Van Jefferson will be the top-producing prospect from a historic class with 37 wide receivers drafted four months ago. 

Eleven wide receivers heard their names called before Jefferson in April's NFL draft, yet this year's No. 57 pick is primed to surpass all of them and make the biggest rookie impact. 

A top target on the field doesn't have to be one during the entry process. 

Five wide receivers were taken before the New Orleans Saints chose Michael Thomas with the 47th pick in 2016. Thomas has gone on to shatter numerous NFL records and become the league's best wide receiver. 

In fact, Amari Cooper, whom the then-Oakland Raiders selected with the fourth pick in 2015, serves as the last rookie wide receiver selected highest in a given draft to lead his class in receiving yards.

So, don't expect the Raiders' Henry Ruggs III to lead this year's crop. Instead, look toward Jefferson—who's in an ideal setting and ahead of the developmental curve—as the most likely to explode this fall. 

Rams players and coaches can't stop raving about Jefferson and his maturation. Head coach Sean McVay explained, per The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue: 

"We want to be able to have guys that are versatile that can play all over the formation. And I think that's one of the things we liked so much about Van, is he can certainly win isolations outside, he can work inside on option routes where he understands how to work leverages and recognize coverage contours. ... And you can see, kind of like what we've talked about ever since we drafted him, he's got a knack for the game. Football just makes sense to him."

Football should come naturally to the rookie as the son of current New York Jets assistant head coach and wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, who played 13 seasons with the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions. The two worked hard together to reach this point, with the 51-year-old grooming his son into a professional long before Van ever wore a Rams uniform. 

"He coached me hard," Jefferson said of his father, per the New York Daily News' Manish Mehta. "I remember a lot of times we'd go to the facility, and he'd just work me for hours. Just catching balls. Doing footwork. Now that I look back on it, I'm glad that we got those sessions in and we did that."

As a result, the 24-year-old isn't as inhibited as other first-year receivers who are trying to find their way. The Rams don't have to pigeonhole him into one position so he catches up faster. Instead, the staff can throw everything at Jefferson, and he'll respond. 

"He's been really good. I say that cautiously because you never want these young guys to get too far ahead of themselves," quarterback Jared Goff told reporters with a laugh. "But he's been really impressive and done a good job. It reminds me a lot of when Cooper [Kupp] was a rookie, and he was just so far ahead of where a rookie kind of should be."

For comparison, Kupp led the Rams as a rookie with 869 receiving yards. And he came out of Eastern Washington, not the SEC, like Jefferson, who played at both Ole Miss and Florida. 

Plenty of other differences exist between then and now too. For example, McVay's system is entering its fourth season in L.A. He's no longer a rookie coach. Also, the Rams have two established receivers in Kupp and Robert Woods. But the third spot remains wide-open after general manager Les Snead traded Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round draft pick to the Houston Texans for a second-round selection, which—checks notes—turned into Jefferson. 

The Rams featured a mix-and-match trio of receivers last season. Granted, Kupp played more from the slot than Woods and Cooks, but all three moved in and out of the formation. Josh Reynolds isn't as versatile, as the majority of his time was spent working outside the numbers. Jefferson will create more flexibility within the formation if and when he surpasses Reynolds on the depth chart. 

At 6'1" with 32¾-inch arms, the rookie has a larger catch radius than Reynolds, whose game is predicated on stretching the field. What really separates—no pun intended—Jefferson from other rookies is his polished route running, which will allow him to excel in any role.

"All of those guys (Woods, Kupp and Reynolds) told me, 'Learn all of those positions so they can just throw you in there at any position when they need you,'" the rookie said, per Rodrigue. "Paying attention to those guys and learning from those guys, they have been very helpful toward me." 

Los Angeles does feature multiple talented targets, and they'll help expedite Jefferson's growth. Still, the second-round pick already has a plethora of tools to get open. 

Watch Jefferson's releases—how he varies his routes, drops his hips at the top of his stem, works his way across the defender's face, explodes through his route, creates separation and always catches with his hands, courtesy of Pro Football Focus: 

"He understands techniques and leverages and how to use those to your advantage," Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said, per Mehta, after he coached the receiver at the Senior Bowl. "Then he's got the ability to separate at the top. ... His ability to separate and suddenness is what I think is going to make him a really good player." 

Now, factor in that the transition is somewhat easier for the young receiver based on what was asked of him during his time with the Florida Gators. 

"Yeah, I'm sure that's part of it," Goff added. "Just being in an offense that does, maybe, some similar things at Florida. I'm not sure how much was similar, but more than anything, it's the way he approaches it every day. The way he comes to work and is a pro." 

The Rams scheme creates opportunities. Within the last two years, the team's three primary targets (including Cooks before he was moved) posted at least one 1,000-yard campaign. Jefferson can do the same this year as opponents roll toward Kupp and Woods, because he can take advantage of one-on-one coverage—whether he's the X-, Y- or slot receiver. 

Since Jefferson can do so, he'll allow the Rams to once again build a comfort level with "11" personnel, which the organization leaned on heavily during the '18 campaign when it made a Super Bowl appearance. The Rams went from being in 11 personnel 89 percent of the time two seasons ago to 73 percent last year, according to Sharp Football Stats' Warren Sharp. 

While some positive expectations can be placed on Reynolds, Jefferson is clearly the wide receiver in Rams camp turning heads. His polish, ability and readiness for the moment are already apparent, which will turn him into the league's most productive rookie wide receiver once the unprecedented '20 campaign begins. 

"Just early on, to be able to be at that point is pretty impressive," Kupp said of Jefferson's next-level thinking and question-asking, per Rodrique. "I think he's going to be an incredible football player. ... As long as he keeps progressing the way that he has been, he's going to be able to play in this league for a long time."

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski. 

Derrick Henry was trending on the social networks for a while this weekend, thanks to Earl Thomas III.

Thomas, as you know, was released by the Ravens on Sunday after an on-field altercation with a teammate. Henry went viral thanks to his double stiff-arm of Thomas at the end of a 27-yard run in the Titans' 28-12 playoff victory in January, the game that essentially ended Thomas' Ravens career while cementing the legacy of Playoff Henry.

Henry rushed for 195 yards (and added a trick-play passing touchdown) in the win. He had rushed for 182 the previous week to help the Titans upset Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Wild Card Round. Henry finished last year's playoffs with 446 rushing yards, the sixth-highest total in NFL history. Three of the four running backs above him (John Riggins, Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis, who tallied two higher totals) are in the Hall of Fame; Titans legend Eddie George is the fourth. More on them in a moment.

The stiff-arming, defender-trucking, jump-passing Playoff Henry nearly turned the Titans into a Cinderella story. But whether you are a Titans fan, finalizing your playoff predictions or just prepping for a fantasy draft, you may be wondering if he can sustain his 2019 late-season and postseason performance for 16 games in 2020.

Henry led the NFL in carries (303), rushing yards (1,540) and rushing touchdowns (tied, 16) last year. But through the first eight games of 2019, he rushed 151 times for 581 yards and just 3.8 yards per carry. He ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing after Week 8. He was on his way to a not-so-special season.

You probably remember what happened: Ryan Tannehill replaced Marcus Mariota as the Titans quarterback in Week 7, the offense began forcing opposing safeties to actually worry about downfield passes, and both Henry and the Titans went on a tear. Henry rushed for 599 yards and scored seven touchdowns during a four-game winning streak that pushed the Titans into playoff contention.

What you may not remember is that Henry secured the rushing title and padded his 2019 stats by rushing 32 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns against a Texans team with nothing to play for and several starters on the bench for most of the game.

Henry's playoff performance erased any doubt that his late-season hot streak was purely the result of feasting on weak defenses and Texans backups. But Regular Henry and Playoff Henry combined for a whopping 386 carries. Running backs with high carry totals wear down quickly, especially battering rams such as Henry, who make their living by barreling through tackles and outmuscling Hall of Famers.

That's the problem with predicting Henry's future performance: Every positive indicator is a double-edged sword.

For example, Henry was the NFL's best running back by far last year when facing a stacked box. Per Sports Info Solutions, he led the league with 137 carries, 650 yards, 11 touchdowns and 18 broken tackles with eight or more opposing defenders in the box. Only two other backs (Sony Michel of the Patriots and Leonard Fournette of the Jaguars) faced a stacked box on more than 100 carries, and only Michel rushed for over 400 yards (401, to be precise).

Henry's ability to average 4.7 yards per rush on nearly 10 carries per game against defenses that crowded the line to stop him last season was certainly impressive. And Henry should face more manageable situations now that Tannehill is the full-time starter. But here's the "but": All those plunges into the teeth of defenses are precisely the sort of heavy usage that wear down featured backs.

Henry also finished second in the NFL with 3.2 yards after contact per attempt, per Pro Football Reference. He tied for third in the league with 29 broken tackles on running plays after leading the league with 34 in 2018. Again: Henry has proved he can generate yards without much help from his offense. And again: He's had to do an awful lot of that over the past two seasons and last year's playoffs. If Henry loses even a quarter-step of burst, a mile per hour off his top speed or a touch of the oomph upon contact, he'll become just another plodder plunging into an eight-man box for 3.8 yards per clip again.

The Titans signed Henry to a four-year, reported $50 million contract in July. They're gambling that he will succeed on his second contract, which is always a sucker's bet when it comes to running backs. It's hard to blame the Titans for thinking Henry will be different after what they saw in the playoffs. But Todd Gurley, Le'Veon Bell and other backs who faded fast after a few great years looked "different" in their share of big games, too.

Playoff Henry runs the risk of being like Playoff Nick Foles: an illusion generated by a few red-hot crunch-time performances. Foles, like Henry, has also had his share of regular-season success and even once helped drag his team (the 2018 Eagles) to the playoffs. But Henry, like Foles, has some limitations that will show up when things aren't going well for his team: You'll notice that we haven't mentioned Henry's meager receiving totals once so far in this column. And the only bigger mistake than overpaying for a workhorse is overpaying a journeyman quarterback because he's a "proven winner."

The best news about Henry's future comes from that list of all-time leading playoff rushers from the beginning of this article:

• Davis followed his 581-yard, eight-touchdown performance for the 1997 Broncos with a 2,008 yard season, MVP award and second Super Bowl in 1998, though his career then all but ended at age 27 because of injuries.
• Allen had two more great seasons after his 1983 playoff heroics, including a league-leading 1,759 yards in 1985, before things got weird.
• Riggins became a household name at age 33 by rushing for 610 yards and four touchdowns in the playoff tournament and Super Bowl that followed the strike-shortened 1982 season. Riggins then gained over 1,200 yards and led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in both 1983 and 1984.

Davis, Allen, and Riggins proved it's possible for a running back to follow a historic playoff effort with a few more years of success.

And then there's Eddie George, who hammered out 449 yards and three touchdowns for the 1999 Titans, who came up one yard short of forcing overtime in the Super Bowl against the Rams. George led the league with 403 carries the next season but averaged just 3.7 yards per attempt; the Titans went 13-3 but lost to the Ravens in the divisional playoffs. He spent three more years as the Titans' featured back, cracking 1,000 yards twice, but his per-carry averages fell into the miserable 3.0-3.4 range.

George was the most rugged, hardest-working workhorse a team could ask for. He even once delivered a famous stiff-arm to a legendary defender in a playoff victory at the Ravens. But like many running backs, he lost a little something to high mileage during his late 20s. Yet the Titans kept hammering George into the line, hoping to recapture the magic of a charmed season.

That history could repeat itself for Henry and the Titans. For both of their sakes, let's hope it doesn't.