Earl Thomas at #17 Bandwagon

Originally posted by SolRebe1:
Is there a Anti-Joe Haden bandwagon? If so im on it.


I'll be crushed if we get Haden instead of Thomas (especially if E. Thomas is available).

Originally posted by DesiDez:
When did this bandwagon start picking up steam? I think you're going to have to pump your brakes a little.

I don't like Earl Thomas at all and definitely don't consider him a 1st round prospect. Taylor Mays gets a lot of crap for being severly flawed and one dimensional. Well, what do you think Earl Thomas is? He's just as flawed and one dimensional as Mays is but in a completely different way.

If I were to give you two draft prospects who were on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size and playing style, it would be Mays and Thomas. Mays is a freak of nature, physical/always going for the big hit, but absolutely no ball skills. Meanwhile, Thomas is small, shies away from contact, a terrible run defender, but has great ball skills.

Can you imagine Thomas trying to tackle Stephen Jackson or Beanie Wells in the open field? I certainly can't. If you need more proof. Just rewatch the Alabama vs Texas game. Alabama plays NFL style football, balancing both the run and the pass. The Big 12 is a spread league and its definitely not a good passing league. It's definitely not a league that translates well into the NFL.

Just watch Mark Ingram's first TD drive and fast forward to 4:05. (FYI, Thomas is the smallest guy on the field btw.) Thomas has a clear shot to hit Ingram but instead he steps to the side and tries to arm tackle him. Now imagine Stephen Jackson running the same play.....yeah Thomas isn't tackling anybody. Plus, do you think Thomas is going to out leap Fitzgerald or fight through WRs blocking downfield? I don't.


I guess I have a preference for defenders who can play run and the pass equally well. Plus, there are lot of good safeties that no one is talking about: Morgan Burnett, Nate Allen, Chad Jones, Major Wright, Reshad Jones that will be available after the first round. Eric Berry is the only 1st round safety that I would ever consider.

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by DesiDez:
When did this bandwagon start picking up steam? I think you're going to have to pump your brakes a little.

I don't like Earl Thomas at all and definitely don't consider him a 1st round prospect. Taylor Mays gets a lot of crap for being severly flawed and one dimensional. Well, what do you think Earl Thomas is? He's just as flawed and one dimensional as Mays is but in a completely different way.

If I were to give you two draft prospects who were on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size and playing style, it would be Mays and Thomas. Mays is a freak of nature, physical/always going for the big hit, but absolutely no ball skills. Meanwhile, Thomas is small, shies away from contact, a terrible run defender, but has great ball skills.

Can you imagine Thomas trying to tackle Stephen Jackson or Beanie Wells in the open field? I certainly can't. If you need more proof. Just rewatch the Alabama vs Texas game. Alabama plays NFL style football, balancing both the run and the pass. The Big 12 is a spread league and its definitely not a good passing league. It's definitely not a league that translates well into the NFL.

Just watch Mark Ingram's first TD drive and fast forward to 4:05. (FYI, Thomas is the smallest guy on the field btw.) Thomas has a clear shot to hit Ingram but instead he steps to the side and tries to arm tackle him. Now imagine Stephen Jackson running the same play.....yeah Thomas isn't tackling anybody. Plus, do you think Thomas is going to out leap Fitzgerald or fight through WRs blocking downfield? I don't.


I guess I have a preference for defenders who can play run and the pass equally well. Plus, there are lot of good safeties that no one is talking about: Morgan Burnett, Nate Allen, Chad Jones, Major Wright, Reshad Jones that will be available after the first round. Eric Berry is the only 1st round safety that I would ever consider.

You can say he's small but as far as height he really isn't, he's like 5'10'' and 3/4. That's just about the same size as Reed(5'11'') and Bethea(5'11'') and you're telling me you wouldn't take those guys? He's a redshirt soph and he's only like 20, so he has some developing to do. But look at the guy's production, 8 INTs last year, and 2 as a freshman, that's twice as many as Mays had in half the time. Besides, look who the good teams in the NFC are. The Eagles, they're a passing team. The Saints are a passing team. The Cards(were) a passing team(when they were good. Packers were a passing team. We lost games because our safeties got exposed in coverage, because Mike Lewis couldn't cover. Towards the end of the season Goldson got better in coverage, but he has a style of a SS at times just look at the 2 FFs in the Cards game. Basically what you're griping about is he's one dimensional because he has some developing to do physically, which is going to happen. You bring up how you like Mays, but he doesn't have a whole lot of upside because physically he's already pretty developed. But he doesn't have good hands or anything. Thomas does, plus he is a very good character guy:

http://www.49ers.com/news-and-events/article-1/QA-with-S-Earl-Thomas/d54ce20f-6b72-4436-8f87-037561befaeb

Oh and if you want to know why everyone is a big fan of Thomas, just look at the games we lost. We lost that Philly game because DeSean Jackson kept getting by our safeties after beating our corners. Earl Thomas runs a 4.35 and is great in coverage, he would've helped significantly vs the Eagles. The Seahawks game where Keith Smith is our 5th DB and gets matched up against Butler who gets behind him for the pass to give Seattle the game winning FG. Or Roman getting beat a little bit by Greg Lewis vs Favre. Or the Houston game where our LBers and safeties couldn't cover the TE from Houston Owen Daniels? All season long other teams slot recievers and TEs tore us up, Earl Thomas would help fix that a lot. We didn't lose any friggin games because we got lit up by Beanie Wells or Steven Jackson.

Originally posted by kronik:

Originally posted by DesiDez:
When did this bandwagon start picking up steam? I think you're going to have to pump your brakes a little.

I don't like Earl Thomas at all and definitely don't consider him a 1st round prospect. Taylor Mays gets a lot of crap for being severly flawed and one dimensional. Well, what do you think Earl Thomas is? He's just as flawed and one dimensional as Mays is but in a completely different way.

If I were to give you two draft prospects who were on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size and playing style, it would be Mays and Thomas. Mays is a freak of nature, physical/always going for the big hit, but absolutely no ball skills. Meanwhile, Thomas is small, shies away from contact, a terrible run defender, but has great ball skills.

Can you imagine Thomas trying to tackle Stephen Jackson or Beanie Wells in the open field? I certainly can't. If you need more proof. Just rewatch the Alabama vs Texas game. Alabama plays NFL style football, balancing both the run and the pass. The Big 12 is a spread league and its definitely not a good passing league. It's definitely not a league that translates well into the NFL.

Just watch Mark Ingram's first TD drive and fast forward to 4:05. (FYI, Thomas is the smallest guy on the field btw.) Thomas has a clear shot to hit Ingram but instead he steps to the side and tries to arm tackle him. Now imagine Stephen Jackson running the same play.....yeah Thomas isn't tackling anybody. Plus, do you think Thomas is going to out leap Fitzgerald or fight through WRs blocking downfield? I don't.


I guess I have a preference for defenders who can play run and the pass equally well. Plus, there are lot of good safeties that no one is talking about: Morgan Burnett, Nate Allen, Chad Jones, Major Wright, Reshad Jones that will be available after the first round. Eric Berry is the only 1st round safety that I would ever consider.

AMEN Brother. Don't understand the love for someone that will allow a normal 10 yarder turn into a 50 yard TD catch and run. What is the most basic skill a defender must have? Tackling. A guy that is a poor tackler that doesnt run 4.2's is no first rounder in my book.

Originally posted by destroyer:
We need a strong safety not a free safety. Goldson did a good job last year at free safety, why screw with success. We need a hard hitting intimidator with good ball and coverage skills and a solid tackler at SS, and there are several to be had in the 2nd or 3rd round. Chad Jones and TJ. Ward are two that would be a better fit. Thomas would be a good FS but his tackling is too suspect for a last line of defense player!

Originally posted by susweel:
move Goldson to SS

Originally posted by susweel:
move Goldson to SS

Originally posted by dman:

Originally posted by susweel:
move Goldson to SS

Yep.

The days of huge safeties are gone ... teams pass so much now you need two guys back there that can cover and have good range.

Goldson is good enough in run support to play SS and have Earl play FS.

Originally posted by kronik:

Originally posted by dman:

Originally posted by susweel:
move Goldson to SS

Yep.

The days of huge safeties are gone ... teams pass so much now you need two guys back there that can cover and have good range.

Goldson is good enough in run support to play SS and have Earl play FS.

Who's asking for huge safeties. We're asking for safeties that can tackle, that can intimidate.