Solomon Thomas, DT

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:
Lynch said they never viewed him as an edge rusher. That was basically echoed by Kyle and Saleh as well.

But every game, it's right back to taking most snaps at end. They may have viewed him like Michael Bennett, but that was a bad comparison.

Michael Bennett is a DE who kicks inside. Thomas is a DT they have been trying to kick OUTSIDE to DE. It's a completely different thing.

Tons of edge rushers can kick inside in passing situations and succeed. Reggie White and Michael Strahan both did it. The Giants even did it with Justin Tuck.

The reverse generally ain't happening. Edge rushers can still win inside in passing situations with quickness. Inside rushers usually ain't got it when it comes to turning the corner or out-maneuvering an OT.

When Thomas is at DE, he gives you absolutely nothing whatsoever as a pass rusher. You can't have that at DE on 1st and 2nd down, especially in today's passing-oriented league.

He's worse than Gabe Wilkins when it comes to edge rush.

And the "Sparq" stuff is just silly. You can't take a guy's combine measurements and just go, "go-go-gadget edge rusher." There's also one crucial measurement omitted in anyone thinking he fits the edge rusher profile: He has short arms.

At :48 in this video, you hear something very interesting that relates to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogR9TKyNmWg

Turned out to be quite prophetic. Will history repeat itself?

When we drafted him their talk was he could play all 4 positions and we see him as Bennett. The 1st camp he attended was Shawn Merriman's. That's a funny camp for your defensive tackle to visit.

If they never viewed him as an edge rusher the pick is even more insulting. It would be as if they took McGlinchey, moved him to center, and just kept telling everyone yeah we know he's a tackle but . Let's just keep this center thing going.

They have consistently said they don't see him as an edge rusher, though. I would assume Solomon chose which players to work out with on his own.

He worked out with Aaron Donald this off-season, yet there he is...still lining up at end.

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:

They have consistently said they don't see him as an edge rusher, though. I would assume Solomon chose which players to work out with on his own.

He worked out with Aaron Donald this off-season, yet there he is...still lining up at end.

No, they haven't consistently said that over the last 3 years. They started saying that after he failed at edge.

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
^My biggest issue with the Solomon Thomas defenders like yourself is that you are basically in a round about way claiming that you know better than our coaches, scouts, and front office.

Those same coaches, scouts, and front office people were the ones who drafted Thomas in the first place. Why do you trust them now but not then?

Because the draft is a crapshoot.

Projecting how good someone will be based on tape is one thing. Watching someone, coaching someone, and seeing them every day and analyzing the player is a wildly different idea.

Do I trust them that they will draft the best possible players? Kinda. 6 out of 10 in the confidence department. Could easily go up.

Do I trust that they are analyzing and judging the players the have on their roster correctly, and thus play the guys they feel arr the best? Absolutely. 9 out of 10.

They arent the same thing.

They spend an awful lot of time, resources, and effort on it for it to just be a "crapshoot."

The coaches/Lynch have consistently said they think Thomas will earn his living inside (no reason for "coach speak" there; just talking about where they think he fits best), yet they never play him there.

Coaches admit to making mistakes on things like this all the time. Mike Nolan said later (about regrets from SF) that he regretted not playing Shaun Hill instead of Alex Smith sooner. And of course, now it looks like he had it right the first time after thinking he was wrong.

Kyle talked about it being an error on his part that Pettis only played 2 snaps last week. In Thomas's rookie year, when a reporter told Saleh how many snaps Thomas and others played in the prior game, he reacted with surprise and then said he needs to reduce everybody's number of snaps.

Coaches express regret for not running the ball more, etc.

Football is not a well oiled machine; it's closer to chaos.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:
They have consistently said they don't see him as an edge rusher, though. I would assume Solomon chose which players to work out with on his own.

He worked out with Aaron Donald this off-season, yet there he is...still lining up at end.

No, they haven't consistently said that over the last 3 years. They started saying that after he failed at edge.

The very first day he arrived in camp, they had him rushing from the inside in nickel and lining up at "big end" in base...on the second team for both (behind Carradine and Buckner). They moved him to Leo after Arik Armstead went down.

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:

The very first day he arrived in camp, they had him rushing from the inside in nickel and lining up at "big end" in base...on the second team for both (behind Carradine and Buckner). They moved him to Leo after Arik Armstead went down.

And? That's exactly what Bennett played in Seattle. Also needs to be noted that AA wasn't the leo in the sense that Ford is. We kept the players on one side and would flip who played big end/ leo. Tank, AA, Solly were the base edge rushers at that point. They were all defensive tackle converts.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:
The very first day he arrived in camp, they had him rushing from the inside in nickel and lining up at "big end" in base...on the second team for both (behind Carradine and Buckner). They moved him to Leo after Arik Armstead went down.

And? That's exactly what Bennett played in Seattle. Also needs to be noted that AA wasn't the leo in the sense that Ford is. We kept the players on one side and would flip who played big end/ leo. Tank, AA, Solly were the edge rushers at that point. They were all defensive tackle converts.

That's not "viewing him as an edge rusher." That's viewing him as Michael Bennett and then going, "well, who cares if our Leo provides literally zero pass rush? Let's put him over there on 1st and 2nd down to defend the run because we don't have any quality Leos anyway."

It also seems they never bothered to look up how many 3rd downs teams usually face in a game. They just thought, "passing league...he'll kick inside on 3rd down or whatever"...not realizing that means 11-12 snaps inside per game...in a league where you'll be facing 35, 40 passes per game.

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
^My biggest issue with the Solomon Thomas defenders like yourself is that you are basically in a round about way claiming that you know better than our coaches, scouts, and front office.

Those same coaches, scouts, and front office people were the ones who drafted Thomas in the first place. Why do you trust them now but not then?

Let's see if I have this now: You are saying the coaches don't know what they are doing and Solomon Thomas is being played out of position. Is that pretty much it? It sounds like it because you now have 40 posts on this thread since you created this new account just to post here.

Give it a break. Saying the same thing over and over but in a slightly different way amounts to little more than trolling/inciting.

Originally posted by TradeThomasToNE:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:

^My biggest issue with the Solomon Thomas defenders like yourself is that you are basically in a round about way claiming that you know better than our coaches, scouts, and front office.

Those same coaches, scouts, and front office people were the ones who drafted Thomas in the first place. Why do you trust them now but not then?

They made a mistake in drafting him.
Everyone can see it now, including them.

Originally posted by TheWooLick:

They made a mistake in drafting him.
Everyone can see it now, including them.

He's backup material at this point. Sadly some our second stringers are better than Solly. Solly new role will to entertain Pettis on the sidelines.

If we had drafted this guy in the 4th or 5th round I would love him.

Originally posted by Chief:
If we had drafted this guy in the 4th or 5th round I would love him.

same. he's a hustler, but he just hasn't been able to make the big plays.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

Originally posted by Chief:
If we had drafted this guy in the 4th or 5th round I would love him.

same. he's a hustler, but he just hasn't been able to make the big plays.

x3

the motor and desire is there but the ability to put together moves to get off blocks is definitely lacking. If he doesn't win with the first move he is to slow on the reload. If he doesn't figure it out by the end of this season I think his salary will become to steep for his production.

Originally posted by Izyniner:
the motor and desire is there but the ability to put together moves to get off blocks is definitely lacking. If he doesn't win with the first move he is to slow on the reload. If he doesn't figure it out by the end of this season I think his salary will become to steep for his production.

What we still see is a raw kid. If he was playing like this as a rookie, 2nd overall pick, I don't think we'd have a problem. It's that he's in his 3rd year and the technical side of his game hasn't taken a huge step forward. It's like he doesn't believe he is a dominant physical force.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
What we still see is a raw kid. If he was playing like this as a rookie, 2nd overall pick, I don't think we'd have a problem. It's that he's in his 3rd year and the technical side of his game hasn't taken a huge step forward. It's like he doesn't believe he is a dominant physical force.

You can see improvements and we will have to see how his season goes. He definitely needs some good plays to build his confidence then start stacking them.