Deal or no deal?

Timeline: Complete breakdown and analysis on Texans debacle with Earl Thomas

Timeline: Complete breakdown and analysis on Texans debacle with Earl Thomas
What happened with Earl Thomas? Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

The past 48 hours have been a roller coaster of a ride for the Houston Texans. They went from a team on the verge of upgrading their secondary with one of the best defensive backs of the past decade in Earl Thomas, to conflicting reports to why the workout had stalled.

After hearing from head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien Wednesday morning via Zoom, here is a complete timeline of the events that took place between the Texans and their debacle with Thomas' workout, featuring the one and only — coronavirus.

A.J. Moore's injury opens the door for the Texans to sign Earl Thomas

When the Texans dropped their third consecutive game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston also lost safety A.J. Moore in the process. The 24-year-old defensive back from Mississippi left Sunday's game with a severe hamstring injury and did not return. Monday morning, the Texans announced that Moore could miss up to three weeks.

With Moore placed on injured reserve, O'Brien and his staff felt it was time to search the free agency pool in hopes of finding a player who can help fill in the empty void at safety. Although several players on the market could have stepped in for the injured Moore (i.e. Eric Reid and HaHa Clinton Dix), the Texans arranged a workout for free-agent Earl Thomas set for Tuesday, September 29. Thomas — along with several other players — made their way to Houston late Monday afternoon for their respective workouts.

Thomas' fit with the Texans & "signing this week is more likely than not"

Albeit Thomas' potential signing would have been a replacement for the injured Moore, the seven-time Pro-Bowler would have made an immediate impact on the Texans' secondary.
During his lone season with the Baltimore Ravens, Thomas, 31, proved he can still be a productive player on the field — despite being a year removed from a broken leg he sustained during his final season in Seattle.
In 2019, he re-established himself as a Pro-Bowl safety with 72 tackles (32 solo hits), six QB hit, and two sacks on the season. However, Thomas' best attribute to a team remains his pass coverage abilities, as he registered four pass deflections, four interceptions and only allowed 44% of passes (25 targets) to be completed in pass coverage.
In comparison to the Texans, Justin Reid has been Houston's most reliable DB through the first three games of the season, as he has only allowed 50% of passes to be completed in pass coverage. The second-best for Houston has been Vernon Hargreaves — who is allowing close to 70% of completions in pass coverage (66.7%) thus far.
The arrival of Thomas would have been a steal for Houston. However, with the narrative of being a locker room cancer, it appeared that the Texans were willing to look beyond Thomas' flaws in character. Late-Monday evening, all signs pointed toward a potential signing that was "more likely than not, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Virus outbreak alters Thomas' workout with the Texans

Early Tuesday morning, O'Brien and his staff received a call from the league office stating that eight members of the Tennessee Titans (now nine) tested positive for the Coronavirus. The NFL's first outbreak of COVID-19 led to several teams around the league to alter their plans for the week — including the Texans.

O'Brien said instead of having Thomas — along with several other players — held up in a hotel due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID; they felt it was in everyone's best interest to cancel all workouts scheduled for Tuesday. But instead of rescheduling, the Texans ceased Thomas' workout.

Speculations to why Houston canceled Thomas' workout altogether spread like wildfire. The most discussed reason, "the Texans decided Earl Thomas was not a good fit for their locker room." Both parties credited the latter. And late-Tuesday night, the outspoken future Hall-Of-Famer confirmed via Instagram that COVID was the reason behind his nixed workout with the Texans.

Ahead of practice Wednesday morning, O'Brien reaffirmed that Thomas' canceled workout was nothing more than concerns surrounding COVID. He has not ruled out the possibility of revisiting Thomas in the near future, so a potential signing could be put on hold for the time being.

"Earl Thomas is a hell of a player, he's had a great career," O'Brien said. "We had a bunch of guys in and we decided to cancel. We'll see how it goes moving forward. That's really what it was. It's not anything other than that. We've got a lot of respect for Earl."

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The Tigers beat the Astros, 7-4. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.

Javy Báez capped a five-run third inning with his ninth career grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers avoided a series sweep by beating the Houston Astros 7-4 on Wednesday.

Baez’s two-out homer off AJ Blubaugh (0-1), a 24-year-old right-hander making his major league debut, put the Tigers ahead 7-1. All five runs were unearned due to shortstop Jeremy Peña throwing error on Kerry Carpenter's grounder.

Riley Greene tied his career high with four hits.

Brenan Hanifee (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jackson Jobe, who allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in three innings. Detroit has won five of seven and nine of 13.

Blubaugh (0-1) struck out two in a 1-2-3 first and gave up seven runs — two earned — and five hits in four innings with six strikeouts and a walk.

Blubaugh was optioned back to Sugar Land after the game.

Peña hit the first career leadoff home run, the first of his three hits, but Colt Keith hit a two-run homer in the second to put Detroit ahead for good.

Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the fifth and Victor Caratini homered in the seventh against Tyler Holton.

Holton struck out Yainer Diaz to strand two runners in the seventh and Tommy Kahnle struck out Christian Walker to leave two runners on in the eighth.

Houston went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners.

Key moment

Báez drove a high sweeper over the left-field scoreboard.

Key stat

Houston allowed five unearned runs in the third inning after giving up three in its first 29 games.

Up next

Astros: LHP Framber Valdez (1-3 4.00 ERA) opens a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.

Tigers: RHP Casey Mize (4-1 2.12 ERA) opens a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels and LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-4, 4.31) on Thursday night.

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