Earl Thomas guided Seattle’s dominant defense on a Super Bowl XLVIII run in 2013-14, and on Tuesday, the Seahawks front office made sure Area 29 will remain at home in CenturyLink Field for the foreseeable future.

ET III and the World Champion Seahawks agreed to a four-year extension Tuesday—a deal that will keep No. 29 in the Emerald City through the 2018 season.

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Earl is happy to be staying in Seattle and expressed his excitement for the future of the organization, saying that the faith shown by the franchise will only make him work harder going forward.

“I’m just excited for the future,” ET said. “I always said bad stuff always lit my fire. But this is one good thing that really boosted me and added fuel to that fire. And I needed this, this is great.The only way this will change me is that I will work even harder than I ever worked before, trying to reach that unlimited potential I always talk about. It’s like faith. It’s something that you really can’t see. But I know my potential as a football player is not even close to where it needs to be. There’s no ceiling.”

The defense, and specifically the Legion of Boom secondary, was the foundation of the Seattle championship run.

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Much of the Hawks’ defensive scheme was successful because Earl, from his deep free safety position, walled off “Area 29″ at the back of the team’s defense.

Seattle selected Earl at No. 14 overall out of the University of Texas in the 2010 NFL draft—the first draft for head caoch Pete Carroll. In the three seasons since, the Seahawks have built their now dominant defense around him.

“It makes me feel humble, just to the fact of the circumstances I’ve had to overcome just to get to this point,” Earl said. “It’s also just the commitment that the organization has made to me. I was part of the first draft of the Pete Carroll era. The owner (Paul Allen) did a great job of sticking to what he believes in and has taken care of the core players.”

His presence in center field allowed the team’s physical corners to shut down opposing receivers. Earl was named first-team All-Pro for the 2013-14 season—his third straight All-Pro and second first-team selection.

 

Joining him on the All-Pro team were two fellow LOB members, strong safety Kam Chancellor and corner Richard Sherman. Together they helped the Seahawks to lead the NFL in total and passing defense, so the Seattle executives made it a priority to keep the dominant group together.

“This was one of our major offseason goals,” said general manager John Schneider said. “Even when we were playing during the playoffs and we were making that run, it was all about trying to reward our own guys. Earl was one of the first guys we drafted, is playing at an extremely high level and we wanted to be able to reward him for all that he’s accomplished so far.”

Seahawks

During Earl’s four-year tenure in Seattle, the Hawks have made a jump in their total defense ranking each season from 27th when he was a rookie in 2010 all the way to No. 1 last season. He also hasn’t missed a single start in his four-year career.

Last year was a banner campaign for Earl. The former Texas Longhorn set career highs in combined tackles (105), solo tackles (78), forced fumbles (2) and tied his career mark with five interceptions.