Before Earl Thomas signed with the Baltimore Ravens, there was a chance he would land with the Houston Texans. During his free-agency meeting with the Texans, Bill O'Brien questioned Thomas' want to play football.

“He was at the rodeo at the time,” Thomas says. “Our conversation was not what I thought it was going to be. It was him not believing I still wanted to play football.”

Thomas' tenure with the Seattle Seahawks came to a screeching halt after he fractured his leg in Week 4 of the 2018 season. While he was being carted off of the field, the All-Pro safety displayed a not-so-kind gesture to the sideline of the Seahawks.

Of course, Thomas had seen the writing on the wall for the past couple of years that he was going to depart Seattle after 2018. Despite his injury, there were plenty of teams who expressed interest in bringing him in.

Among the teams, the Texans were actually able to speak with Thomas in free agency. But as Thomas states, it doesn't appear that the conversation went according to plan.

Before the conversation happened, Deshaun Watson advised O'Brien to consider talking to Thomas due to sharing agents with the talented safety. In the end, O'Brien and Thomas never seemed to be on the same page in terms of safety joining Houston's locker room.

After seeing Thomas play this season, there's no doubt that O'Brien regrets questioning Thomas' heart this past offseason. For the Ravens, Thomas has helped shape the secondary with 30 tackles, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery.