Draft spotlight: RB De’Anthony Thomas

(Last spotlight: TE Eric Ebron) All spotlights are players who we believe would make a good fit for the Jets, regardless of projected draft positions.

Meet: Explosiveness

De’Anthony Thomas is a three-year starter from Oregon, weighing in at about 174 lbs and measuring up at 5’9?. Thomas is perhaps the ‘flashiest’ player of the class, demonstrating his ability to elude defenders in the rushing and returning aspects of the game.

During his time with the mighty Ducks, Thomas rushed for a total of 1,877 yards on 240 carries (7.82 avg!) and recorded 26 touchdowns.

He holds Oregon school records for kickoff return yards (1,885) and punt return average (17.1). His career all-purpose yard numbers fall just behind fellow Oregon stars, LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner.

Outside the numbers

De’Anthony Thomas is a fast guy, but what you notice more about him on tape is his ability to recognize defensive and special teams’ coverage, and follow his blocks. He’s a very smart runner, allowing the play to develop around him, and then turn on the afterburners to burst pass defenders.

Thomas has ankle-breaking moves that would make an NBA player jealous.

The right fit

Thomas, while not at his discretion, needs to selected by a team that will optimize his talents. He’s not built to carry the load, or power between the tackles on a game-to-game basis. Thomas has experience catching the ball out of the backfield, but has not been challenged to run anything more than basic routes.

Thomas is best suited for a complementary role, in an offense that runs a lot of screens, quick passes, and is willing to be creative to get the ball in his hands. I believe Marty Mornhinweg and his West Coast-style offense could be a good fit.

We saw last season how Mornhinweg was not afraid to mix things up with multiple backs on the field, using pistol and other speciality offenses to free-up space to make plays.

The Jets currently hold Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell, and Mike Goodson on their running back depth chart. We all also still await a decision from Chris Johnson. Goodson should be the odd man out with any addition, given his lack of production in 2013, due to off-the-field issues and injury.

Given that space on the roster, De’Anthony Thomas could be that home-run hitter that can be implemented at multiple junctures of a game, while providing a significant boost the Jets’ special teams—which has fallen off the past two seasons.

As far as a draft projection, Thomas is a misnomer. Some have him coming off the board as early as the second or third rounds, while others see him as a Day 3-only pick.

For what the Jets have already, I’d say Thomas has to be a late fourth round selection, or later, to justify the value in the move. If this was 10 years earlier, and the running back position had more stock, then maybe we’d be talking a different story.