New San Francisco 49ers cornerback Ambry Thomas spoke with reporters after being drafted in the third round. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
How much contact did you have with the 49ers leading up to this? Did you have any indication that this might be your ultimate landing spot?
"Yes. I've had multiple interactions with them. Probably two weeks ago, I talked to the cornerbacks coach [defensive passing game specialist/secondary coach Cory Undlin] and we talked for quite some time and really just got to know each other and feel each other out."
Can you talk a little bit about your day today and how you prepared for tonight?
"Honestly, I just treated it like a regular day and honestly tried not to make too much of it because at the end of the day I feel like I'm about to just get ready and get paid to play football. And, I love football, so it's a dream come true to do something you love for your job now. So, I tried to look at it as a regular day, but my mom, she made it bigger than what it actually was, but it was a great experience."
I saw that you returned a kick for a touchdown a few years ago. I'm wondering if you also returned punts or if you haven't, if you think that that could be a part of your skill set at the NFL level?
"Oh, yeah, for sure. I believe I can return punts also, but in college I never did it because we had a starting punt returner. He was the punt returner and I was the kick returner. That's how it kind of went. But, I believe I can do that also."
The 49ers have told us that they've left the door open for former CB Richard Sherman to possibly return. What would it be like to be on the same team with him? Are you familiar with what he does as a cornerback?
"It would be awesome to learn from him because I've heard he's really smart and that's how I play my game. I look for the tricks within the formations and stuff like that. And I try to read it like he does. He's a very smart football player and that's where I idolized my thinking from, because he's very smart on the field. So, I want to get there, so I would love to learn that though."