RENTON, Wash. -- Back in May 2010, Earl Thomas had just turned 21. He was a rookie for the Seattle Seahawks, rooming with another rookie, fellow safety Kam Chancellor.
“The first time I met him he was in a hotel watching 'Family Guy,'” Thomas said. “That was kind of awkward because all I did was watch 'SportsCenter' back then.”
Chancellor chuckles now remembering the first thing Thomas said to him.
“He called me weird for watching 'Family Guy,'" Chancellor said. “I like 'Family Guy.' There's a lot of humor to it. You've got to be a person with an open mind, though. You've got to like to hear jokes and stuff like that. So I told him he was uptight.”
Who could have imagined from that strange first meeting 4½ years ago between the always-serious Thomas and the easy-going Chancellor that a bond would form and become a meaningful friendship between the best safety duo in the NFL?
“We actually clicked day one," Chancellor said. “We just started talking, from him calling me weird and me calling him uptight. I guess it was us being honest with each other, and it just came a long way.
“I guess if you're honest with a person long enough, you begin to gain a certain respect from the person. And I guess that's when the love comes into play and the bond just becomes so strong.”
Thomas remembers that both of them had big goals. And Thomas credits coach Pete Carroll with the idea of making his two rookie safeties roommates, supporting each other as they learned together, knowing it could pay off in the long run.
“Coach Carroll is a mastermind in a lot of ways,” Thomas said. “We didn't see it, but he saw it.”
Now they’re like opposite sides of the same coin, always instinctively knowing what the other guy will do at any given moment on and off the field.
“We understand each other" Chancellor said. “And we understand each other's responsibility on the field. We understand where we're supposed to be and we try to funnel the ball to one another.
“We always talk about how, 'Whatever leverage you're on, I’m on your opposite leverage. So if you miss, I'm going to make it up on the other leverage.' I think that communication, that understanding of knowing where we're going to be and what we're going to do, helps a lot.”
But off the field, Chancellor still tries to get Thomas to smile a little more.
“You have to sometimes,” Chancellor said. “Earl takes his job very serious, which he should. But sometimes you've got to loosen him up and show him how to have a little fun.”
Thomas is glad he has been able to go on this incredible journey -- one win away from back-to-back Super Bowls -- with that weird guy who watches 'Family Guy,' the man who became his best friend.
“I think it's crazy how when you first come together, you never dream of right now,” Thomas said. “We just talked about how good we wanted to be. But when you actually put the action in and you actually see it come to life, that's special."