I have watched all the videos I can find on Thomas and my best case scenario is Arian Foster (w/o the hands). They are close to the same build, both put up some reps in the 20s+ at the combine, neither looks as fast as they are, both look like really good one cut backs.
Arian Foster produced at Tenn. but slid in the draft because GM's didnt care for his speed, infact he didnt even run at the combine. But he ended up in a great situation in Houston and now looks like a top 5 RB.
Daniel Thomas will have a better rookie year than any other RB in this class, mark it down.
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It's a decent assessment. Foster actually fell because of injury. Could never stay healthy: torn meniscus in his left knee and a shoulder injury that required surgery after the season as a freshman, only 4 games as a soph because of an ankle injury, left knee injury as a junior that require surgery, deep bone bruise as a senior and a poor senior year.
Paul 13 likes this. -
Im not saying he IS Arian Foster but I see some of it in him....ofcourse Im looking through Aqua and Orange glasses so. -
I'm surely willing to wait and see .... it was a need and they addressed it. not worried about his 'fumbling' either .... Ricky was/is a 'fumbler' as well
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I’d agree there’s some Arian Foster in Daniel Thomas. But Arian Foster also breaks tackles and outruns defenders on occasion, so it’s not a 1:1 comparison.
I do think we have a long-time starter at the position, at minimum. -
Funny you mentioned Foster, I was looking through current starting backs to see how many are about Thomas' size and saw Foster. They do have plenty of similarities and if Thomas runs like Foster in the NFL I will retract the "why not Mallett?" comments. LOL. I was surprised though to find how many 6-6'2" 220lbs backs start in the NFL and are successes.
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Thomas has nice hands, too. -
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Well, what I like about this comparison is Foster is a good example of a offense taking advantage of the NFL's move to more passing, they bring in nickel and dime Db's to cover the 3 wr formations, Foster takes the handoff and instead of looking at a 260 pd linebacker he has to truck a 190 pd Db out on the edge, that is the sort of advantage that DT will give the offense.
A 3 wide formation of BM, Bess, Hartline, defense brings out there nickel package, Thomas takes the pitch out on the edge of the formation and up comes Kyle Wilson to try and tackle him..DT should win that match up on most occasions as he has a good 40 pds on Wilson.Fin-Omenal likes this. -
I guess I can now turn my thumbs this way :up:
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You know FINO, it's funny, the press was trying to guess who the player was that Jeff Ireland was referring to that Thomas reminded him of. He'd made that mistake with Ingram, if you can call it that. I can tell you it's either Forte or Foster. We were pretty high on Forte when he came out IIRC. But the comparison to Foster is warranted. I think Mario Fannin is similar as well. And I would not be surprised if we drafted him with one of those late picks.
Fin-Omenal likes this. -
I'm glad we didn't settle on Lex Hilliard as any sort of future. We obviously like to split the load among two big backs. I think it'd be a smart play to resign Ronnie, and have him teach this kid how real NFL blocking is done...and with Ricky facing possibly his last season, move forward with DT and RB as the new 2 headed monster beyond 2011. And why not carry all 3 for now?
There really isn't a more ideal scenario, then letting a home-grown kid play out his career and evolution. 6 years down the road, DT will be the old man in the equation. Ronnie isn't going to go out and break the bank anywhere, anyhow. -
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One can hope.
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That sucks!