Solomon Thomas feels like he's in a better situation now, as he prepares to enter his fourth NFL season. Early in his career, he often had to move around the defensive line as the San Francisco 49ers worked to put the best 11 defenders on the football field.
Thomas is more comfortable along the interior, where he flourished in college. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh recently stated that, with the 49ers' increased depth, the goal is to make sure Thomas remains inside.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure that Solly stays inside at all costs," Saleh said. "When he is in there, if you look at his tape from a year ago, when he's inside and solely inside, he's a very, very effective football player. Made a lot of plays for us last year inside, and so our intent is to try to keep him in there because you're right. That's where he excels the most."
Thomas appreciates receiving the bulk of his workload at defensive tackle and feels he will benefit from playing where he is more comfortable.
"It's been nice to stay in one position a little longer than moving around every other play," Thomas said via Zoom on Wednesday. "I get more comfortable, more used to it. I'm more used to playing interior now.
"Getting those snaps all over again, everything's a little more similar than switching around every other play, which I can do, and it's a benefit with me being versatile. But being able to stick in the interior a little bit longer has definitely helped me out a little bit."
Thomas believes he is currently about 15 to 20 pounds heavier than his playing weight from a season ago. The former No. 3 overall pick hasn't just been looking to bulk up, though. Thomas worked this offseason to improve his football technique too.
"I gained a lot of weight, so that was huge for me," said Thomas. "But also, I focused a lot more on football this offseason, just getting healthy, keeping my body healthy, a lot of rehab, a lot of work, definitely a lot more focus on football, and more football technicalities.
"I worked with (private defensive line coach) Mark Hall, Arik Armstead, and DeForest (Buckner), a lot of the guys with Mark, and we just worked football every day.
"That was huge for me, just to be able to work (on) those technicalities in the offseason and work on finding out my moves, finding out about myself, getting a better vision for the game. That's really helped me, and it's helped me just be clear, be able to play free, and just focus on what I need to focus on."
