Thomas on Board by 17 in Beat Writer Drafts

[Inspecta]

Originally Posted by Shep

Better here: OBR says the dirty little secret on Earl Thomas is that he calls ZERO percent of the formations. There are questions about his ability to become a leader of a defense, something Eric Berry seems born to do.
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Yeah I saw that you posted that in another thread. And that's a HUGE HUGE concern. At the NFL level you have to be able to make the defensive calls before the snap to make sure everybody is where they're supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to.

Eh....weird...you know I've been firmly in camp Berry from the get go, however I was open to Thomas, but not if he can't make the right calls.

[Shep]

Originally Posted by Inspecta

Yeah I saw that you posted that in another thread. And that's a HUGE HUGE concern. At the NFL level you have to be able to make the defensive calls before the snap to make sure everybody is where they're supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to.

Eh....weird...you know I've been firmly in camp Berry from the get go, however I was open to Thomas, but not if he can't make the right calls.

I see it as another separator between the two guys. Thomas is not going to be the quarterback of your defense... but Berry could be that guy.

Nate Allen has that nice "smart kid" tag, too... a guy who will become one of your leaders on the field and in the locker room. I like him a ton, but it seems he's winning his way int a lot of hearts. I won't be shocked if he sneaks into one.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by Shep

Better here: OBR says the dirty little secret on Earl Thomas is that he calls ZERO percent of the formations. There are questions about his ability to become a leader of a defense, something Eric Berry seems born to do.

That's HUGE news that I hadn't heard that before. Defintely would make me NOT pick Thomas at 7 if Berry is not there. Because no matter how importat one person my think a safety is, getting a safety that doesn't have that ability would scare me.

Thanks shep.

[Alo]

Yeah, I mentioned the thing about Thomas not making the calls for the secondary about two weeks ago. But since then, Mel Kiper's reported that teams have been exceedingly impressed with Thomas's football intelligence, and Colt McCoy said on ESPN Radio that Thomas was the hardest working guy on UT's defense.

I don't think it's a matter of him "not having that ability" - it's that his college DC preferred to do it himself, and Thomas may have a slightly rocky adjustment period as he gets used to doing it at the next level.

Not the biggest deal, I don't think.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by Alo

Yeah, I mentioned the thing about Thomas not making the calls for the secondary about two weeks ago. But since then, Mel Kiper's reported that teams have been exceedingly impressed with Thomas's football intelligence, and Colt McCoy said on ESPN Radio that Thomas was the hardest working guy on UT's defense.

I don't think it's a matter of him "not having that ability" - it's that his college DC preferred to do it himself, and Thomas may have a slightly rocky adjustment period as he gets used to doing it at the next level.

Not the biggest deal, I don't think.

Sorry Alo I obviously missed when you posted it.

and thanks for your analysis!

[Shep]

I missed it, too... but I think it's a big deal. I think it's l like hearing that a QB you like in free agency wasn't allowed to change plays at the line.

My gut says if Earl was a great leader and excellent at putting people in positions, he'd be allowed to do it, like Allen and Berry. Not to always talk about my son, but he's technically an OLB (even though he's sometimes covered by a safety in the box)... but he started calling the plays in the playoffs last year because it was natural for him to see the whole field and know where people should be.

[Alo]

Texas was starting two sophomore safeties. I'm not surprised that Muschamp took control of things.

Is it something you like to hear? No. But if you already felt he was worthy of #7, it shouldn't dissuade you from thinking so.

[Shep]

It's all by degrees at this point, but it really locks me into a Berry-or-Clausen mode at #7. We could trade up for Bradford or trade down to pile up more picks, but at 7 I only really like those two.

It's sounding like it may get easy for us if Buffalo really trades up to get Clausen.

[golfer704u]

I guess what I am saying is Alo

If before my board went

Berry
Thomas
Haden
Spiller
Bryant
Claussen

News like this may make me think more seriously about Haden and Spiller over Thomas.

[Alo]

I have Haden over Thomas. But I'm not really concerned about Thomas's smarts or his "ability to become a leader of the defense" (not part of Sobo's report, Shep).

Thomas is a smart, hard-working guy. He plays smart, save for occasionally taking bad angles in run support. He knows how to dupe QBs into throwing the ball his way, and he's not the kind of guy who gambles wrong a lot (*cough* Morgan Burnett *cough*).

His tackling/run support issues concern me a lot more.

[Shep]

It's a tonnage issue, as the TV cliche goes. He's not a great tackler and he's never had responsibility for calling the defense.

There was talk in the Tap Room, Alo, and the discussion went further than the original report. Don't be all calling me out and shit.

[Shep]

This idea is growing on me. Seems the Browns hosted him on April 8th:

USC cornerback Kevin Thomas was named second-team All-Pac 10. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds at the NFL scouting combine, also registering a 34 1/2 inch vertical leap. He bench pressed 225 pounds 19 times.

He excelled in his positional drills at his campus Pro Day workout.

Thomas is a second-team All-Pac 10 selection.

For his career, Thomas recorded 89 tackles, 21 pass deflections and three interceptions.

He's regarded as a player on the rise and has been projected anywhere from the second round to the fifth round by draft analysts.

SHEP NOTE: That's pretty damn strong for a corner. Nice size, solid speed. If we got Nate Allen and Kevin Thomas in this draft to go with Sheldon Brown, I think we would have addressed one our weaknesses. And talk about adding a bunch of smart leader types...