Baltimore Ravens: 4 Best replacement scenarios for Earl Thomas

What is the Baltimore Ravens plan following the surprise cut of Earl Thomas? There are a ton of avenues they could take, but these four make sense.

Things seemed rocky for former-Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas this year. It started with trash-talking the Tennessee Titans and their Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry and then getting absolutely trampled in an embarrassing playoff loss. Then some of Thomas’s personal life was shown to the world in a negative light that we won’t discuss here. And things went over the top when Thomas and fellow safety Chuck Clark got into an extremely heated argument during practice. Thomas was dismissed for his behavior that day. Coincidentally, it was his last day as a Raven.

Baltimore went ahead and outright cut the seven-time Pro Bowler on Sunday after very brief rumors of a potential trade. Obviously, the Ravens didn’t want to wait any longer on moving on from Thomas.

Besides cutting a future Hall of Famer one year into a sizeable contract and now owing him a lot in dead cap money, the biggest surprise has to be that the Ravens decided to move on from one of their most important defenders on what is supposed to be one of the league’s best. The secondary in particular was arguably the best across the NFL, but can we still say that after moving on from Earl Thomas so quickly?

That remains to be seen, but we’re wondering in the meantime what the plan is to begin replacing Thomas’s role on defense. There’s a huge piece missing in the backend with Thomas gone and someone needs to try and fill it in a pinch for 2020.

What are the Baltimore Ravens going to do? There are four possibilities that stick out as more likely than others, so let’s take a look at the best possible solutions.