Solomon Thomas

[Dub_City30]

What do we make of this guy? When he was drafted he was supposed to be a pass rusher and we were clearly wrong. He of course performed better when we swtiched him inisde, even had a couple good of games last year as a DT but now hes nowhere to be seen. Hes not even a starter what a waste of a number 3 pick. What do you guys think happens to him? 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Probably gone sooner rather than later. He's been a huge disappointment. Yes, he probably playing out of his favorable position, and dealt with some personal trauma. Regardless, he hasn't lived up to his draft billing at 3rd overall. Looking like a bust. Shanahan and Lynch just missed. Happens. 

Edited September 26, 2019 by PapaShogun

[NinerNation21]

6 hours ago, PapaShogun said:

Probably gone sooner rather than later. He's been a huge disappointment. Yes, he probably playing out of his favorable position, and dealt with some personal trauma. Regardless, he hasn't lived up to his draft billing at 3rd overall. Looking like a bust. Shanahan and Lynch just missed. Happens. 

It's all of this and the fact that Arik Armstead is turning into an elite D-Lineman and taking snaps away from Thomas. If the 49ers were still a bad team, I'd be all for trading Armstead now to extract as much value as possible and playing Thomas as much as possible for the rest of the season. But, the 49ers are looking like a potential playoff team and Armstead is looking like a top player on the team. 

Thomas isn't going to take a ton of snaps away from Buckner or Armstead at this point and our offense is one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL this year, so there are less defensive snaps to go around for everyone.

[J-ALL-DAY]

Armstead has indeed taken majority of the interior rushes away from Thomas this season. I commented in the GDT, but I thought Solly had a nice game last week. When he did rush from the interior, he got pressure on Rudolph and was stout against the run making his usual hustle plays. 

Armstead has ALWAYS been a good player and is taking it to another level this season. He just isn't going to be able to be re-signed with how much he will command. It sucks but it is the reality with the extensions upcoming for Kittle/Buckner while Spoon possibly getting one as well.

So next year Thomas should get more time on the inside...But that is if the team still has plans for him. All offseason it was a bad sign for him when Day was ahead of him on the depth chart and getting all starter reps. Granted, now it seems like they go with Jones next to Buckner and then shift Armstead inside on nickel downs. 

[Forge]

Based on his draft position, he's a bust. As Papa said, it happens. I wouldn't expect to become a consistently disruptive defensive presence or anything. 

But he's a good hustle player, high character, etc etc etc, so there's a chance that he's just one of those guys that sticks around if the team wants to keep him here. He's not going to cost a whole ton, obviously. I'm also not unconvinced that he couldn't be some sort of trade chip in a deal, though that is probably me just getting my hopes up. Lots of defensive players are coming off the books next season, and until we look one or two of them up, if we assume they all leave (Armstead / Blair / Day), we will have need for him from a depth perspective next season. 

[John232]

Armstead being this good isn't wholly unexpected. People wanted us to trade Armstead AFTER we took Solly (or once it became clear he was  who we were drafting). I had major issues with taking Thomas based on the fact that we had Armstead and Blair, both of which at the time had already illustrated starter level play. Now we're seeing Armstead really tap into something and imo, it just makes the Solly pick that much worse. 

 

But as Forge said, he's a good guy, is good enough to be a solid depth/rotational piece and so he may just stick around for a while. Maybe we can restructure his rookie deal to free up some of the space. Bit of a train wreck of a pick when you consider who we could've drafted..

[rudyZ]

18 hours ago, John232 said:

Armstead being this good isn't wholly unexpected. People wanted us to trade Armstead AFTER we took Solly (or once it became clear he was  who we were drafting). I had major issues with taking Thomas based on the fact that we had Armstead and Blair, both of which at the time had already illustrated starter level play. Now we're seeing Armstead really tap into something and imo, it just makes the Solly pick that much worse. 

 

But as Forge said, he's a good guy, is good enough to be a solid depth/rotational piece and so he may just stick around for a while. Maybe we can restructure his rookie deal to free up some of the space. Bit of a train wreck of a pick when you consider who we could've drafted..

The Thomas just made so little sense to me. I always attributed it to Lynch wanting to make a character pick. A talented guy for sure, but mostly a good guy who would mix in well in any locker room, etc. Then Lynch kinda ruined the good will of the Thomas pick by picking Foster at the end of round one... So in a way, this pick busted in more than one way. I never felt he would be an elite pass rusher. He manhandled OL in college because he has great strength. But he didn't have the quickness and agility to pass rush from the edge. But as I said, that wasn't even the reason he was drafted, in my opinion. He was a character guy. If he developed into a good player and a team leader, Lynch would get away with it. But he has turned into an average player so far, and he's not really a leader. Players can't become leaders without production, and he's not getting the opportunity to produce, and his talent level hasn't warranted that opportunity. So... bad pick. We should have gotten one of the safeties. We'd be further on our road to contention with no Solomon and an elite safety...

[y2lamanaki]

3 minutes ago, rudyZ said:

The Thomas just made so little sense to me. I always attributed it to Lynch wanting to make a character pick. A talented guy for sure, but mostly a good guy who would mix in well in any locker room, etc. Then Lynch kinda ruined the good will of the Thomas pick by picking Foster at the end of round one... So in a way, this pick busted in more than one way. I never felt he would be an elite pass rusher. He manhandled OL in college because he has great strength. But he didn't have the quickness and agility to pass rush from the edge. But as I said, that wasn't even the reason he was drafted, in my opinion. He was a character guy. If he developed into a good player and a team leader, Lynch would get away with it. But he has turned into an average player so far, and he's not really a leader. Players can't become leaders without production, and he's not getting the opportunity to produce, and his talent level hasn't warranted that opportunity. So... bad pick. We should have gotten one of the safeties. We'd be further on our road to contention with no Solomon and an elite safety...

Agreed almost completely. I did think he could be elite or close to it as a pass rusher inside, but the pick made little sense to me because we already had Armstead for that role and Buckner next to him. I wanted one of the safeties (Hooker, specifically).

I know the prevailing wisdom is that we won't re-sign Armstead, but I wonder how hard we will try. In theory you could just plug in the next guy up, but it seems like that would be Thomas and it seems like the team hasn't been fully interested in that. I doubt the team will pick up Thomas's 5th year option given that it will be considerably pricier than Armstead was this year as Thomas was picked at #3. So that would make Solomon Thomas a free agent in 2021. Then what? I think the team might hope it could re-sign Armstead at a relative discount, and given the camaraderie of the team, maybe Armstead would be willing. 

And if not, I hope Armstead balls out over the next 16 games of his 49ers career, we franchise tag him, and trade him to at the very least recoup our 2nd round pick. 

[NcFinest9erFan]

Do him a favor and trade him to a 3-4 team.

Edited September 27, 2019 by NcFinest9erFan

[TecmoSuperJoe]

If Thomas leaves, and is able to live up to his potential elsewhere, then it will just be a blunder on the coaching staff. After having two different defensive line coaches work with him though, I doubt that happens. I feel like we would have seen flashes of something by this point.

Edited September 27, 2019 by PapaShogun

[Chrissooner49er]

26 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

If Thomas leaves, and is able to live up to his potential elsewhere, then it will just be a blunder on the coaching staff. After having two different defensive line coaches work with him though, I doubt that happens. I feel like we would have seen flashes of something by this point.

Some have....others haven't been paying attention (though it does take a significant amount of attention). Delmark points out Solly's impact in the Seattle win last year.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

53 minutes ago, Chrissooner49er said:

Some have....others haven't been paying attention (though it does take a significant amount of attention). Delmark points out Solly's impact in the Seattle win last year.

Well, every player will get some positive results the more snaps they play. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Solly hasn't done absolutely nothing, but he hasn't shown consistent flashes of dominance from game to game. Not like Bosa is right from the start.

Edited September 27, 2019 by PapaShogun

[Chrissooner49er]

1 minute ago, PapaShogun said:

Well, every player will get some positive results the more snaps they play. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Solly hasn't done absolutely nothing, but he hasn't shown consistent flashes of dominance from game to game. Not like Bosa is right from the start.

  Oh, no! Not like Bosa at all! Perhaps the anti-Bosa, unfortunately. Who has been like Bosa other than big brother?! I think Nick may be better, though (no, not being a homer at all... ).

Did I mention I have a Bosa jersey?! 

[Forge]

15 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Well, every player will get some positive results the more snaps they play. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Solly hasn't done absolutely nothing, but he hasn't shown consistent flashes of dominance from game to game. Not like Bosa is right from the start.

He's barely shown consistent flashes of competence if we want to be real about it. At least as a pass rusher

[NinerNation21]

8 minutes ago, Forge said:

He's barely shown consistent flashes of competence if we want to be real about it. At least as a pass rusher

That's the thing, though, he's not a pass rusher. He's a run-stopping, gap penetrator. He was drafted above where he should've been. Originally, he was seen as a high second-round pick before the draft season hype really picked up. He should've been a late first, early second-round pick with the idea of using him as a run stopper who could eventually provide decent interior pass rushing ability. Instead, he was drafted as what Nick Bosa is now. This is a clear miss evaluation and misuse candidate. I like Thomas and generally, like the drafts from Lynch. But, Thomas was a clear miss.