Kentucky Joe posted the articles from Newsday + NY Daily News & NY Post about Bryan Thomas in another thread. They basically say the same thing, this guy admitted that he slacked off last season & didnt practice hard and therefore it carried over to Sunday. He claimed his new contract had nothing to do w/it -- BS. I always thought his production tallied off because they moved him from the strong side to the weak side. This guy was on thin ice after last season's performance. But after hearing this admission of slacking off, I am 100% behind the CS if they want to bench his a$$. Guy was a 1st round pick & we have gotten a single season's return on our investment. Put his slacking a$$ on the bench & then maybe we'll see how hard he works to get back on the field. Another Bradway disaster.
Admitting that "maybe I got too complacent," an unusually candid Bryan Thomas delivered a stinging self-evaluation Thursday at Hofstra. The seventh-year outside linebacker doesn't believe money was the root of his decline - he received a lucrative contract extension near the end of the 2006 season - but he conceded that he "slacked off on a lot of things." The affable Thomas didn't say he dogged it, but he came close. "I got it in my head to where I felt I could go out and do it without putting in extra work," Thomas said after the team's ninth spring practice. "Now I realize I can't do that. I'm not the type of person who can just turn it on on Sunday. "My practice habits weren't as good last year and it carried over to Sundays," he continued. "I can't allow myself to do it again or the next place I'll be is somewhere else, and that's what I don't want." Thomas, a first-round pick in 2002, was nearly a bust until 2006, when he flourished in Eric Mangini's 3-4 scheme and recorded a career-high 8-1/2 sacks. He was eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2007, but the Jets kept him off the market by locking him up with a five-year, $20 million extension, including a $9 million signing bonus. NY DAILY NEWS
i said it before and i'll say it again FUCK HIM. and i don't believe in the whole "change of heart" dr. phil thing. people are who they are. i got a strong feeling BT and pace start this year and slowly gholston starts taking his snaps then at the end of the year he's not starting and not playing so much and he starts to "slack off" again in practice and he gets cut at the end of the year. when david bowens took his job at the end of last year did he work hard in practice to try and get it back? NO! he's a fucking lazy prick and i hope he gets cut!
Bryan Thomas just isn't very good. Remember, this is the guy who couldn't feed himself properly when he was a rookie.
He's lazy, plain and simple. I wouldn't mind seeing the coaching staff bench him for a few games either but I doubt they will. He is still a bust in my mind.
Umm, couple of thoughts: 1) If he actually turns it up and performs in preseason, does he still warrant a benching, you know, just to "teach him a lesson"? 2) If he is what he is, then what was he two years ago? 3) If anyone has actually read all of the articles, he never actually called himself a slacker, but did admit that he didn't put as much effort as he needs to in practice to perform. That's quite a big difference from the original story that he admitted he's just lazy. He skated, figuring his skills had matured enough to allow him to do so. Now he realizes he actually has to work to excel, rather than a player like Tomlinson, or Brady, or Manning, who can just step onto the field and be elite. It takes maturity to admit when you're wrong. He did that. If he works hard and earns himself a spot, he deserves to play. If he doesn't improve, he won't win a job, so that will end the story. I don't see what the problem with him getting an opportunity to fix himself is.
I undertsand the animosity to Thomas, but you have to remember last season the team was pretty much out of it by mid-season. Yeah, he should have tried harder, but I don't think he was the only one who was not putting in 110%. The main thing now is going forward. How likely is it that he will slack off again? Or has he learned a lesson and will do better? We'll see soon enough.
I will give him credit for admitting it, but it shows the kind of person he is. The coaching staff must understand this guy can not motivate himself. He gets no room for error , produce or you will be cut or be 2nd team. That said, what's done is done and it would be great if he could duplicate his 2006 production along with the 2 new guys. He gets one more chance with me because he can help.
This is exactly my POV. I'm not saying the guy deserves a free pass. Plain and simple, he screwed up. He knows it. The CS knows it. We know it. He gets one shot to make things right. If he puts in the extra effort, he gets the opportunity to play. If not, happy trails. Like you said, if he can get back to his '06 form, he helps. We have the chance to have a very good LB unit with a lot of depth. I'm not willing to turn my back on any player who has shown the potential to excel.
Sure --- bench him. Teach him a lesson. Have him running w/the 2nd team. We now have depth at the position. Didn’t putting D. Bowens on the field that last few games teach a lesson? He certainly didn’t learn anything when we signed him to a nice contract extension. He should have made the correlation --- good play + hard work = reward $$. He didn’t learn that lesson, so maybe he’ll understand this one ---- not working hard = benching. He’s not in our future plans, so there's no reason not to get started on the future of this team than the present -- PACE + GHOLSTON. We’re not talking about some guy entering his 3rd year. This is a 7th year VETERAN. Some of you guys sound like this is the Sisters of Charity. We paid good money to this guy & after last year he is going to have double his work effort to get back on the field.
If you are going to play in the NFL, what it really takes is a lot of heart. Hell, everybody has the talent or the CS and FO would never let them be there. If Thomas can't muster up the heart, let him just go back home. We'll see.
i don't know... i just don't know. i see him starting this year. i don't see vernon starting the year. i just think once the season starts to roll along he'll eventually lose his job to our #1 pick and once his reps decrease he'll fall back into the same unmotivated person he is. people can change for a few months... then its back to normal. alio i mean he had one good year... just ONE. i hope i'm wrong, i hope he gets a fire lit under his butt and goes out looking to prove everybody wrong. but i just don't see him on the team next year. i think as soon as his reps and game time start to dwindle so does his interest and motivation. he's not a fighter otherwise he would've tried harder last year when bowens took his job, i don't care if it was a bad season just for personal competition.
Good point. Depressing, but good point. BT just doesn't seem to have any kind of killer instinct. "I didn't play well because I wasn't trying hard enough" is kind of tough to respect, even if its honest.
Thomas takes a while to have things sink in, it seems. Take a look at how he came up here after the draft, started acting like he was still in college and going out to MacDonalds every day and couldn't figure out why he was losing weight?! The CS had to assign a dietitian to supervise his eating habits before he got it right 12 to 18 months later. Just a country boy taking it all in. Thomas was a gifted athlete who probably outperformed folks in college on Saturday. Last year he thought he could "step it up" on Sunday. What made him decide such a foolish thing? If his position coaches were calling him on it, what was the reason he didn't respond to them right away? Just a country boy, looking up and taking it all in. Every man must be motivated on his own terms to be effective. I don't envy his coaches. But I do hope they get it right before we lose a great athlete who runs out of time before he finally takes it all in.
Fair. Am I sure he will perform? Of course not. He could flop quite easily. It happens all the time. But what if he is that good, and he's finally figured it out? My example of Eli Manning comes back here. Eli was a mental mess, and he was within an inch of being run out of town. Then, through a series of events, he "woke up". Whatever the circumstances, whether it be that he was a good leader all along be undermined, or whether he just came to his senses, he did it, and became a champion. I'm not giving Thomas a free pass. He's got to earn his spot. I wouldn't even be surprised if the CS expects even more effort from him, given this history. However, for people to sit here and say he should be benched or cut without even giving him a chance to prove himself is just nonsense. If nothing else, consider the cap implications of cutting him. If he sucks in camp, then he's toast. If he comes in and storms the league, it's pretty asinine to just bench him.
Last year is ancient history. If Thomas outplays others vying for his spot, he will be the starter and get the most playing time. Period. You don't punish a dog for peeing on the carpet a week ago. The coaching staff is partially responsible for failing to identify and correct the problem last year.
Well said. The idea of benching him regardless of how well he performs or how hard he works is both illogical and irrational which is a polite way of saying stupid as sh*t.
