Draft Review: Earl Thomas
The seven-time Pro Bowl safety is in his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Photo courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks
GOSSELIN DRAFT ANALYSIS: Thomas did it all for West Orange High School in Orange, Texas. He was a three-year starter at defensive back, running back and wide receiver on a team that went 24-2 over his last two years. He made 112 career tackles with 11 interceptions on defense and returned two punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns. Thomas also collected 2,140 career receiving yards and 1,850 career rushing yards. And by the way, he was a .300 hitting outfielder for the school’s baseball team. Thomas became a two-year starter in football at the University of Texas, leading the Longhorns with 17 passes broken up as a sophomore. He led the NCAA with 24 passes broken up as a junior and then decided to skip his senior season to turn pro. Thomas was an All-Big 12 pick, an All-America and a Thorpe Award finalist in 2009. He returned two career interceptions for touchdowns and also blocked a punt. Thomas measured 5-10 ¼ and weighed 208 at the NFL scouting combine and ran a blistering 4.37 40-yard dash at his campus workout. Gosselin rated him the No. 2 safety in the 2010 draft behind Tennessee’s Eric Berry and placed him No. 19 on his Top 100. The Seattle Seahawks selected Thomas in the first round with the 14th overall pick of the 2010 draft.
Here are the pre-draft comments from 12 NFL talent evaluators on Thomas:
Scout: Teens. Better than Berry (fifth overall pick by KC). An instinctive, smart playmaker. He plays fast and can line up at nickel cornerback.
Scout II: Late first, high second. Tough, willing hitter. Does everything well.
Defensive backs coach: Poor campus workout. Great on tape, though.
Defensive backs coach II: A football player. Would love to have him on my team.
Personnel director: Same grade as Berry.
Personnel director II: No. 2 safety but more instinctive than Berry.
Personnel director III: More explosive than Berry in terms of speed. But he’s a young guy. He’s only played safety for two years. And his (slight) stature will concern folks. A heckuva nickel slot, though.
Head coach: No. 2 safety after Berry.
Head coach II: A walk-in starter at nickel corner.
General manager: Can play cornerback.
General manager II: The most over-rated player in this draft. Does a lot of ordinary stuff. Small guy who plays small. Gets knocked around.
General manager III: Late 1. Only knock is that he’s not a great open-field tackler. Surprisingly, he’s an average interview. You’d expect Mr. Texas Football and he wasn’t that. Ed Reed went 24th (overall in 2002) and it was more fun watching him on tape than Earl Thomas now.
HALL OF FAME RESUME: Thomas became a walk-in starter for the Seahawks and started all 140 games over his 10-year career – the first nine in Seattle and a final season with Baltimore. He was voted to the first of his seven Pro Bowls in his second season and was also selected to the NFL’s 2010s all-decade team. Thomas intercepted 30 career passes and returned two of them for touchdowns. He was a member of Seattle’s Legion of Boom defense that delivered the Seahawks win their only NFL championship in 2013. He intercepted five passes and collected a career-high 105 tackles that season, finishing third in the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year voting. This is Thomas’ first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rick Gosselin spent 20 years as the NFL columnist for the Dallas Morning News, including 20 offseasons studying and researching prospects for the NFL draft. He didn’t watch any tape – he was a writer, not a scout – but he talked to the men who did watch tape. He built a network of NFL general managers, head coaches, personnel directors, scouts and assistant coaches from all 32 teams who would share with him their analyses of players. Gosselin used their insights to build his own draft board, Top 100 board and mock drafts. For 10 consecutive years he had the best Top 100 board in the country (2001-10), according to the Huddle Report, and three times he produced the best mock draft. Gosselin resurrects his college scouting reports to see how NFL talent evaluators viewed the top draft prospects coming out of college.
