Chocolate Lab;3322840 said:
Why a doubter, VA? You probably know more about him than I do... I don't know anything about his character or any of that, and rarely saw him play live (despite my attempts to because I love the PJ offense). I just think he has a big, big upside and might be the perfect guy to groom for a year before we cut Roy.
But yeah, he reminds me of the old wishbone days when you really had to project these receivers because there simply wasn't much film of them running pro routes or catching passes. But, maybe that creates an opportunity.
There are no character flaws or anything like that, except that he's had a few injury issues. But (highlights aside) he's always struck me as a bit stone-handed and not very quick. He never ran any routes in college, and I wonder how good he'll be at it.
People use the spread option as a selling point, saying "Thomas put up 1500 yards in an option offense! He's gotta be good!" And that may very well be true. But the way it has looked to me is that his numbers were a product of the offense, definitely not the other way around.
When GT threw the ball, it was using play action, into single-coverage, on a go route to Thomas because he was the only receiver on the field. Teams defended the Tech running attack. They never game-planned Thomas. In Paul Johnson's offense there are no obvious passing downs. The Bees run the ball a majority of the time on third and long. So it doesn't surprise me at all that their one receiver had 1500 yards on 46 catches in 2009.
Of course, I could be wrong. Thomas just reminds me a lot of David Boston. While he may be big and fast, I've never seen evidence that he can accelerate in and out of cuts, turn sharply and fluidly, or do any of the other route-running required of receivers in the pros. He didn't do it in college and he's missed the combine and GT's pro day with injuries, so we've not seen it, and everything considered, I'm just not ready to spend a high-round pick on the guy.
But, like I say, I could be wrong. I sincerely hope he runs a 4.47, blows scouts away in mid-April and gets selected in the top 10.
