The whispered view from somebody close to the Earl Thomas situation?

"He'll be in somebody's training camp at the end of July.''

If the Seattle Seahawks have their choice, their All-Pro safety will fold from his holdout and his demands for a rich new contract extension. Seattle is making it clear it has no intentions of being flexible here.

If the Dallas Cowboys have their choice? The training camp that Earl Thomas shows up to is in Oxnard, California, where his new teammates convene on July 24.

Would I make a put-big-money-on-it prediction that the Texas native lands with Dallas? I would not, in part because we're so focused around here on the Cowboys as a suitor that we've ignored what other teams might become bidders.

But does Earl Thomas hold out forever? Doubtful. He's 29, with one more chance at a big bite of the contractual apple.

Do the Seahawks hold on forever? Doubtful. To begin the season without one of their "face-of-the-franchise'' guys because they don't wish to bump him up from his $8.5-mil salary for 2018 is a bad look -- maybe even an admission of a lack of faith in their ability to contend.

What's the right number for a Dallas bid? As always, from the time we first broke the story on the details of the teams' negotiations right after the Scouting Combine, it's actually two bids:

One -- and this ties back to the story we broke on NFL Draft weekend about Dallas considering dangling a second-rounder (pick No. 50) before using it on guard Connor Williams and then dangling a third-rounder (pick No. 81) ... and Seattle not even calling back on that offer.

There are the parameters. ... the range being a future second-round pick.

Two -- and this may be the tougher negotiation than the one between the teams -- how much do you pay Earl Thomas?

I've seen a lot of guesses ... and that's all they are. It makes sense for Thomas to ask for an Eric Berry-like contract (Kansas City’s star safety has a deal averaging $13 million with $40 million guaranteed). The Cowboys can afford to do that, cap-wise, and as I argue here, a number in that range would fit into the Zack Martin/Tank Lawrence financial totem pole that Dallas could create ...

But Martin is at $14 mil. Lawrence is at $17 mil for one year. Gigantic guarantees for a guy who will be a 34-year-old safety still making bank doesn't seem the style of COO Stephen Jones.

There is another avenue, and one that players will eventually explore now that Kirk Cousins' contract in Minnesota has blazed a trail: How about a contract in which all the money is guaranteed?

Thomas, has missed seven games over the past two seasons, and again, he's 29. But if we're spitballing, it's worth a mention: Lower annual average. Fewer years. Fully-guaranteed.

I don't have a number here, mostly because it's such new territory. But someday soon, somebody will further forge this Cousins-like path, and widen it. Maybe Thomas and the Cowboys should be those "somebodies.''

How much of what the Cowboys should do here is about Jeff Heath, Xavier Woods and Kavon Frazier, the top safeties on the roster now? It's no insult to them to say that the acquisition of Earl Thomas would vastly alter for the better what this defense is capable of ... and the Dallas coaching staff absolutely knows this.

Not much else is absolutely known. But absolutely believed by a knowledgeable source? That, I've got.

Earl Thomas will be somebody's training camp at the end of July.