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This signing is underrated and very important . . .
The Jets signing of Solomon Thomas is a key move for the Jets.
Yes, barring injury, he will likely be a reserve defensive tackle, behind Quinnen Williams and Sheldon Rankins.
But here is the deal: The Jets rotate their defensive linemen a ton, perhaps more than most other teams, because their system calls for guys to pursue the ball sideline-to-sideline. Some systems call for their defensive linemen to stay at home more.
So the big guys in this scheme need more breathers, and so often last year, when the starters came out, there was a precipitous dropoff to the second team. They can’t allow that to be the case this year, so getting Thomas in the fold will help.
We are talking about the third pick overall of the 2017 draft, so clearly there is quite a bit of talent here.
Perhaps he didn’t live up to that draft position, but he’s still a good player. One issue for Thomas has been he’s a little bit of a “tweener.” He’s not really a dynamic edge-rusher with the skill-set to beat offensive tackles consistently, and at 6-2, 280, he’s a little undersized for the interior. So during his first four years in the league with the San Francisco 49ers, they waffled on what was an ideal positional home for him.
His best spot is clearly inside using his quickness to beat guards and center, and he felt that he was really getting into a groove in 2020, before tearing his ACL on the MetLife Stadium turf in a 49ers’ win over the Jets early that season.
“The year I tore my ACL, I was having an amazing camp,” Thomas recalls. “I was killing the 3-technique and the 2i-technique [lining up off the guard’s inside shoulder].”
Keep in mind, this guy is still only 26, having entered the league after his junior year at Stanford, so he’s kind of in his prime right now.
And he is coming off a pretty good season with the Las Vegas Raiders where he was in a role similar to how the Jets will use him, as a rotational defensive tackle. He finished with 3.5 sacks, 12 QB hits, two forced fumbles and two defensed passes.
So he’s certainly a guy who can come in and do a nice job spelling Williams and/or Rankins, and there should not be much of a dropoff. Who will lineup next to Thomas on the second team remains to be seen. Perhaps that player comes in the draft. Because the Jets rotate their defensive tackles so much, and the backups play almost as much as the starters, picking a DT in the first or second round isn’t out of the question.
While he is only 6-2, 280, that really isn’t much smaller than Williams and Rankins. This defense calls for small quicker defensive tackles to shoot gaps and get up the field quickly.
“I like a lot of things about this defense,’ Thomas said. “First of all, it’s an attack front, getting off the ball. I’m an undersized inside player but this is where I can thrive, I can use my athleticism, I can be quick, I can be explosive. Those are my strengths.”
So in closing, this is a really important signing for Gang Green, because you can’t think of the backup defensive tackles as true backups, because they play so darn much.
April 1, 2022
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