Mathew Thomas: He is why we drafted no LB

That’s what I was thinking. How did they know for sure that he would go undrafted? Seems like a huge gamble to me.

 

So you think they don't prepare for the draft? You think they don't have a draft board? You think they don't contact many guys and maybe say "Hey, if you go undrafted we are probably the only team that can just about guarantee you a roster spot."

Nope, they would never do something like that. I mean, to do all of that they would actually have to travel the country to talk with many players before the draft and they would have to have scouts.

Nope, no way they do all that work because a guy might not go undrafted. Nope. No way they do all that work. They have no idea who is going to go in the top of the 1st or the bottom of the 7th round.

 

It's not a gamble. Every year there are MANY good ILB's who don't get drafted. We only needed a last backup ILB.

 

That's not what I said. I said that there was no way that the team could be sure that some other team wouldn't draft him, making it highly unlikely that they constructed an entire draft strategy secure in the knowledge that they would just sign Thomas after the draft ended. I'm sorry to point out the obvious flaw in your logic, but getting defensive about it doesn't really strengthen your case.

 

There's no way the team could be sure some other team wouldn't draft him? If he's gone then they sign someone else. You act like getting a 5th ILB was the most important thing to the team. You think the teams whole draft board was based upon some UDFA ILB? Well it wasn't. If Thomas was gone then they bring in someone else. See how that works?

 

Correct.. He will not be the QB on the defense.

 

They definitely didn't not draft a ILB because they knew Thomas would be available. That would be a pretty optimistic and risky approach. It may be likely though,since they brought him in for a pre draft visit that they told him that we are interested in you late or as a high priority UDFA. I'm sure he was/is aware that he has a decent shot at making the roster because of our depth and considers this opportunity one of the better ones,so he took it. I think it's as simple as that....

 

IMHO I don't think he makes the final 53.

Side tangent: Do you think Orlando Brown Jr. purposely tanked his combine cause he knew the Ravens would draft him? I mean it seems too good to be true. They are giving him his dad's number and locker spot. He came into the combine a potential 1st round pick? How could he have regressed like that?

 

He didn't tank at the combine, he's just not a good athlete that's why he slipped in the draft.

 

I think the essence is that none of the guys they could get would be out there every down so what is the point of spenind the pick on them since we already have people for the sub roles. Maybe I misinterpretted it.

What were the character concerns? The only thing I know of were potential NCAA violations.

 

Curious what kind of drugs? PEDs or recreational?

 

Right, the big ILB's are for run defense which happens mostly on 1st and 2nd downs and the quick ILB's are for pass defense because passes tend to happen more on 3rd downs against teams with a good QB.

This year and every year there are good quick ILB's that can run 4.60 still available into the 3rd round. And in the 5th round, every year, there are still good ILB's available but they are 4.80 guys.

Tomlin wanted the guys he wanted. He doesn't seem to value ILB's much unless they are freak athletes like Shazier.

It really hurt us last year in the playoffs with Spence out there but if we get lucky and don't have a lot of injuries at one position like last year we should be okay.

 

But I’m not going to say that’s why the didn’t draft one. Also the thread title really makes it seem like this guy was solely the reason why

 

Toss in the year of academic suspension and you have another large asterisk.

 

Limit what we teach him and he'll be fine. Anytime you see a number 12 you crush it. Lesson 1 complete.

 

Folks there are reasons why these players drop or go undrafted. Lets see how it plays out.
my guess is 3/4 of these players will be gone oh lets say before the first exhibition game

 

You are showing your age. NFL long since got rid of “exhibition game”. Now it’s “preseason”.

 

Sure they did. Smart move, but they didn't know any picks they liked would be available after the draft.

 

Hey, I remember those exhibition game days. I used to call this number to get updates on the Steelers "exhibition" games before ESPN Sportcenter and waaay before the internet! Check out the cameo of Caitlyn back when he was still the manly man Bruce.