People like to piss on Bryan Thomas because he never lived up to his 1st round draft status but the fact remains that the guy never misses a game and plays fairly well against the run. Let the guy play!
Bryan Thomas is a key run stopper in our defense. point blank. not a pass rusher by any means but the guy has great pursuit and knows where the ball is 9 times out of 10. hes a total B grade player that teams need. at least smart teams keep cuz you know his role. adalius thomas has 2 yrs at most left in his body. bryan can play at a solid level for a few more than that. i dont see the need to cut one just to pick up the other with a shorter shelflife. now sure if you wanna bring in adalius in the same manner were bringing in jason taylor fine. a few years ago me and a few others were the only people interested in keeping Brandon Moore. now hes regarded as the best run blocker on our line. not saying Bryan Thomas instantly becomes a sack machine cuz thats obviously not the case. but Thomas is in the mold of a solid player thats usually underappreciated simply because of where he was drafted. blame herm
Just out of curiosity... how is a linebacker considered a good run stopper??... statistically speaking.. like how if a player records an x number of sacks he is a good pass rusher... even though the Jets have arguably the best pass rushing attack but are statistically ranked low in sacks as a team... maybe i watch too much baseball... which is basically all statistics... ive watched all the jets games the past few seasons and nothing about bryant thomas jumps out at me that will make me say he is one of the run stopping olbs in the game... which for a 3-4 defense is rare.
thomas , numerous times forced RB's to re-direct meaning he filled his hole as soon as the RB went to read his lanes. this allows his teammates to close in while he slows down the RB. an example of this would be Bart Scott. the guy basically tackles lead blockers so Harris can clean up the mess. and yes i would say maybe you do watch too much baseball. box scores pretty much tell all there is to know about a baseball game most of the time excluding situational drama. football is inbetween the numbers. at least when you evaluate how valuable a player is in your system. if i had the option between someone who could get me a sack in a game verses someone who can push the pocket on a consistent basis I'll take pressure over a pretty number anyday. that being said Taylor was brought in here for sacks. naturally thats what fags do, is chase down sacks. and he should be good at it for us. thats just my opinion though.
Well, the main reason is because people go to ProFootballFocus.com and quote their statistics. It's a good reference, though it is far from the be-all, end-all. It likes Thomas a lot against the run. But there's a reason Thomas has started the past few years, and it isn't just his salary. Is he a star? No. He's a sure tackler, but I would have no issue replacing him for an upgrade. The question is whether or not Adalius Thomas is an upgrade. I thought Thomas/Thomas would be a good platoon, but Jason Taylor was available first. I think I'd feel more confident with BT/Taylor than AT/Taylor. Plus, at some point, why not just let the people we have on our team already do the job?
Have you got a faintest clue as to what 'containment' is in defensive football? That concept doesn't really show up on stat sheet. I figured you had no clue. P.S. Adalius Thomas won't be replacing BT on 1st and 2nd downs; he hasn't shown the world he can be that. If he's getting his call in a sub package as a pass rusher, Jason Taylor will do a much better job (as last year's stat suggests.) The OLB will be Pace/BT for 1st/2nd downs and on obvious passing situations on 3rd down, it will be Pace/Taylor.
