Happy Birthday Duane Thomas

[Hardline]

He was before my time. Just how good was he?

 

[jazzcat22]

He was pretty darn good.
A little bit of a head case back then, but in today's world and NFL, it would mean nothing.

Will watch the video in a bit. Trying to get my coffee started, and got a delivery just showed up.
At least I don't have to wait in that 4 hour window. Was 1st on the list I guess.

 

[RS12]

What could have been. Oh well, at least he got a ring.

 

[Bobhaze]

One of the most physically talented players ever to wear the star. Reminded me of Jim Brown. It was his mental state that prematurely ended his career. He was a HOF talent who couldn’t hold it together.

 

[rags747]

Extremely smooth running style. Imagine taking Calvin Hill in 69 and then following that up in 70 with Duane. Who does that?! I always appreciated his renegade style, unfortunately it was not good for his career.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds058]

One of the most physically talented players ever to wear the star. Reminded me of Jim Brown. It was his mental state that prematurely ended his career. He was a HOF talent who couldn’t hold it together.

Couldn’t have said it any better.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Happy Birthday, Mr. Duane Thomas!

 

[Sheepherder]

Extremely smooth running style. Imagine taking Calvin Hill in 69 and then following that up in 70 with Duane. Who does that?! I always appreciated his renegade style, unfortunately it was not good for his career.

All he really wanted to was to get paid.That interview where he talks about his friend getting paid 25 thousand for rookie of the year tells the story to me. Management wouldn't even match that. What a waist of talent and maybe a couple more Super Bowls.He was one of my all-time favorites.

 

[pitt33]

The original #33…

A beautiful runner. Sort of glided through holes. Bob Lilly said he was one of the best runners he saw. Said he could have been a HOFer.

 

[Plankton]

Thomas turning Tom Brookshier into a stumbling, stuttering mess after Super Bowl VI is a hell of a memory. Duane Thomas is the textbook definition of a shooting star - incredibly accomplished with a short lifespan.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Happy birthday Duane.

 

[KJJ]

He was pretty darn good.
A little bit of a head case back then, but in today's world and NFL, it would mean nothing.

Will watch the video in a bit. Trying to get my coffee started, and got a delivery just showed up.
At least I don't have to wait in that 4 hour window. Was 1st on the list I guess.

He became a pretty big head case, which led to a short career. He wouldn’t talk to anyone during the 1971 season not even Tom Landry.

 

[KJJ]

Jim Brown did most of the talking for him in that interview. Duane Thomas was a strange cat. He must look back and have some regrets on how he conducted himself. Landry said he would pass Thomas in the hallway and say hi to him and he wouldn’t respond. Mike Ditka got pissed off at him for not speaking up during a meeting when his name was called. Thomas picked up his chair and turned it the opposite way ignoring everyone.

 

[rags747]

The Duane Thomas story’s and quotes are Legendary! He felt he was being wronged bigtime and he handled it his way. Why deal with people that you feel are phony, cut them off. Dallas at the time was known as being a real cheapskate when it came to paying salaries. Anyway, I always
liked the dude. He paid a heavy price though for his free spirited ways. His best friend on the team was a LB named Steve Kiner, another free spirit who was eventually traded away.

 

[Established1971]

Not too enamored of him referring to Dan Reeves as "white boy" in the America's Game documentary on the 71 team

 

[KJJ]

His problems all started because of money. Check out his career bio. Some pretty interesting stuff. I never knew that he was traded to New England in July 1971 because he refused to show up to training camp, but the trade fell through.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Thomas

 

[DandyDon52]

Duane was good, but he and others overlook the fact that when he came in, dallas was a SB caliber team, and the OL was very good
at run blocking.
That is why when he played for other teams he didnt do very good, the teams were not good.

He signed the 11,000 contract then he wanted a new contract , or a big bonus. The cowboys fo and owner were very cheap with ALL the players.
He might have got what he wanted had he played nice and friendly, instead of what he did.
Jim Brown advised him and that was a big part of why he acted that way, and that hurt Duane.
Got him kicked off the cowboys and quickly out of the nfl.

Back then you do what he did and no one will understand it, or want you on their team.

Watching those films, keep in mind those make the players look slower than they were, he was faster than that shows him to be.
My fav play was the quick pitch to duane, in red zone, and it was a easy TD. They didnt use that play enough.

NFL players didnt make much back in 69 or 70 , that is why teams fought to get in playoffs, as that gave them extra $.
I think a SB win gave the winning players $25,000 and that was a lot of money back then.

Duane got all the playoff $ and SB $ both years he played for cowboys, he should have considered that too.

 

[Diehardblues]

Extremely smooth running style. Imagine taking Calvin Hill in 69 and then following that up in 70 with Duane. Who does that?! I always appreciated his renegade style, unfortunately it was not good for his career.

In 1970 there were 17 rounds . It truly was taking the best player available regardless the need as teams would stockpile talent at different positions .

It wouldn’t be unusual to have backups who could start for other teams . And it could provide trade bait .

In 1977 the NFL reduced the draft to 12 rounds. It was reduced to 7 rounds 1994.

 

[Diehardblues]

After our SB VI win and his bitter departure in 1972 Duanne said the Cowboys wouldn’t win another SB. And we were beginning to think he was right until we moved up in 1977 draft for Dorsett and won SB XII.

 

[Diehardblues]

After becoming rookie of the year being called the next Jim Brown he insisted on renegotiating his contract .

But Tex refused . Duane called him “ deceitful” and Landry a “ plastic man “ .

He was silent all season to media in 1971 and as a result wasn’t voted SB MVP.