...I can't believe what I read. No one's even saying that he's an overrated player or anything like that. All I ever read is, he's so good that he's going to command big money. The guy can play football and has proven himself to be worth big money (but will still be overpaid most likely). Now, I can understand from a financial perspective that we don't want to break the bank on him, but some of you are getting way too carried away with this nonsense of there being like 12 DE/OLBs in the draft that will fill our starting needs immediately. 12? Are you serious? We can get a sure-fire legit player, and everyone's scared to give up the big bucks. The way to build a team is through the draft, and not through free agency. Call me crazy, but one big name player is not building a team. It's one player. A player we can really use rather than rolling the dice on an unknown (which is what every single college player is). It just seems that most people on this site feel like we're going to get like 7 immediate starting Pro-Bowlers in the draft, and that we can pay everyone on the team with 20 bucks and a happy meal. He's an exceptional player, an All-Pro. We have the money. We should use it on the best guarantee in free agency. Big money doesn't necessarily mean cap hell, especially for one player. Sorry for the new A. Thomas thread, but I just needed the rant space.
I can get on board with that. I think the problem that a lot of people have with Thomas is his age. My main beef is if we can be able to cut him down the road without much consequence. I think Thomas would bring some fire to this defense as well as some valuable experience from one of the best d's in years.
thats what i was saying earlier. its funny to hear guys say "why sign thomas? lets just draft a DE/OLB in the 1st or 2nd round!!". thats just stupid. we need some veterans on our defense. all a rookie DE/OLB will give us is a little more pass rush and thats defenitely not enough. we need a complete player, a veteran presence who can play the run, cover guys and rush the passer. our young defensive players have nobody to look up to right now and thats what our defense lacks. leadership.
the reason everyone is calling for Thomas is because he coming off his best year and clearly can be very valuable to the Jets the fact remains that SB teams do not sit back and watch other teams sign marquee players...if they arent in the system, they must come from the outside...and this is the jets chance to build from the outside
Signing Thomas lightens the load off our draft needs. Can look to fill our DE void. We've got 3 DE's over 30.
absolutely. It allows us to go after un-sexy picks , tackle to replcace Clement? Thomas is a dominant DE and as said would bring fire , get him.
Agreed. A. Thomas is the type of player that you hope that first draft pick becomes. Why not get the damn guy and then draft a player of the same potential?
Pardon my ignorance(and the fact that I just got my computer back) but didn't Thomas kind of come out of "nowhere" this past year? His first pro Bowl or no? I honestly can't remember hearing too much about him until last year.
Honestly, I haven't watched a ton of A. Thomas games. So, I can't say how great a player he is, though his reputation is very good. I just hope he's not a player who played well for the big contract/payday, and then will be happy to slide back into anonymity. Three years ago, the Ravens were known more by Lewis, Reed, McAllister, Gary Baxter, Michael McCrary than Adalius Thomas. Between 2001 and 2004, he averaged 3.5 sacks a year. Then he had 9 in 2005 and 11 in 2006. So here's the two questions I have: 1) did he evolve as a player during the past two years, or did he see his payday and play his tail off. 2) Why are the Ravens passing on him? They see him every day. Are they trying to preserve their cap, change their scheme, or do they know/think something that we should consider.
Nah, Adalius has been pretty consistent over the past three years, and isn't one of those players that just came out of nowhere in their contract year and put up huge numbers. Here are his past three years: 2004: 72 tackles, 8 sacks, 4 FF 2005: 84 tackles, 9 sacks, 4 FF 2006: 82 tackles, 11 sacks, 0 FF The reason why you probably haven't heard of him is because of the big name players that surrounded him on the Baltimore defense (Lewis, Reed, McCallister, Rolle, Suggs, etc.)
That's cool. Couldn't tell you why it is but the name doesn't make me think of a big named playmaker. Thanks for all the info. 3 Pro Bowls surprized me and the fact that there have been SO many outstanding Def. players on the Ravens for a while now is probably why the name escapes me. Been without my PC for a while so I seem to be way behind on what's going on with the JETS/NFL.
The fact is, there ARE a lot of LB's with starting potential in this draft, and not many 3-4 lineman, or O lineman who could be starters in year one that will be there for our picks. With limited picks, and a limited cap, it just makes sense to draft that starting LB, and sign the positions that are less likely to be effective starters in year 1 or two. LB and now CB look pretty deep, so I would rather not sign a player at those positions, but sign the DT's and O Lineman, and leave the LB's and CB's to the draft. As for 12 LB's who could probably be first year starters-- Here are some names. Adams, Moss, Moses, Johnson, Abamiri, Woodley, Francis, Crowder, Robison, Spencer. Those guys are all Day 1 guys, and that's just what I can come up with off the top of my head-- and not including guys like Poz, Willis, Timmons and Beason. That's 14 right there, and I'm sure scouts have a few more guys that I didn't mention. Weather it's 14, or 8- it's inarguably a deep class. The argument isn't about who will be better, it's about filling all of the holes with talent- not splurging on 1 guy, and filling the rest with KVO, B Hamilton, D Blaylock, and Kevin Barlow types. I think the money would much better spent on Steinbach, who would be here for 7+ years as a Prowbowl quality starter-- it will not be as easy to get a guard like that. Not to mention- A Thomas will be playing for the Jets, not the Ravens. Lewis, Suggs, Scott, Reed, Rolle, McCalister and Ngata-- that is a LOT more talent than we have, so yes, I would expect him to flourish in that defense. Yes, he would be good for us, but I would not expect those results to translate.
And thats y i'm not really sold on the guy...if its a good contract for us....great but i wouldnt break the bank....which he's gonna get cuz those stats are very good....IMHO
Paying big money to a guard is never a good idea. Hutchinson is just the most recent example. I see no justification for paying big money for Steinbach. I'm not saying those guys aren't good prospects, but c'mon, you really think that many are going to be starters right away? We need an impact pass rusher. That guy is Adalius Thomas. We plugged Ferguson and Mangold in right away and they're flourishing. With a guard, it's an even easier transition. Grab a guard at some point in the draft that fits the profile. Plug him in and let him play. Either way, you're talking about splurging on a player. I would never splurge on a guard.
Yes, Hutchinson is a recent example-- And they had over 1200 yards rushing-and 1500 all purpose yards out of CHESTOR TALOR!!! Thank you validating my point!! You really think we're just going to draft some 5th round guard and "plug him and let him play" it's not like last year- we knew those lineman were going to start because they were the best in the class. We need to solidify the lines before the draft-- We currently have no starting RT, but we have the same LB's from last year who got the job done. Which is a more pressing need? We can't go into the season with a gaping hole on the line, but we could go into it with the LB's we had from this year, especially if we add one of the talented kids from this draft.
Also, with a LB class this deep, you can get a first round talent with a 2nd round pick. By signing Thomas, we may have to reach to pickup the 2nd rated guard, and miss out on LB with much greater value because we have a hole that only 1-2 guards in the draft can fill in year 1.
Because there are 2 guards in the entire draft worthy of being picked there-- Grubbs and Blaylock-- and we dont want to be pigeonholed into picking them there. Anyway, your argument can easilly go the other way-- why not draft a LB rather than pay through the nose for him.
