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View Full Version : Julius Thomas Jumped Through Hoops to Get Where He Is



Denver Native (Carol)
01-09-2014, 05:23 PM
You shouldn’t know who Julius Thomas is.

A year ago the Denver tight end thought about dropping his football experiment, cutting his losses and putting to use that business degree from Portland State—the one he earned on a basketball scholarship.

The Broncos were pushing—the way football teams do when legendary quarterbacks sign on for a career nightcap—to have each of their offensive pieces at Peyton Manning’s disposal. Thomas was the promising project who played one year of college football after four years of basketball, impressing the Broncos organization on film and in interviews enough to get drafted in the fourth round in 2011.

For many reasons—reasons we’ll get to—that was a miracle in itself. But on the docket in the fall of 2012 was an early exit from football, because Thomas wanted to live the rest of his life with a functioning ankle rather than rush back from surgery the previous April.

rest - http://mmqb.si.com/2014/01/09/julius-thomas-denver-broncos-2013-playoffs/

Hawgdriver
01-09-2014, 07:15 PM
Julius Thomas is the real deal. Besides being Manning's top receiving target in terms of Quarterback rating (was 140 when targeting JT) He might be better than many of the famous pass-catching TE's in the league, right now. If you can believe it, he ranks higher than Gates, Graham, and (scratch that, Gonzalez does better) in terms of pass pressures surrendered (check it out here (https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/12/12/signature-stats-pass-blocking-efficiency-rbs-and-tes/) - ranked 9th of 39 at mid-December). He's apparently pretty good at it, if you believe the numbers. But I'll trust the eyeball check, which means that he's not an absolute liability, he just benefits from a guy that doesn't take too many pressures.

However, Virgil Green has terrible numbers in pass pro. Makes you think maybe JT is better than we credit.

tomjonesrocks
01-09-2014, 07:32 PM
Nice article. Obviously being patient with his injury paid off--sounds like Elway deserves the credit there and not so much the coaches?

As an aside, got a laugh that his first big hit was a result of Orton hanging him out to dry. Of course he did.

TXBRONC
01-10-2014, 10:41 AM
Nice article. I got a kick out his J. Thomas' dad telling him if it wasn't Pete Carroll he would have never been born.

Ravage!!!
01-10-2014, 12:29 PM
Fun read. To me, Welker isn't the guy that has made the big change in this offense, its JT. Having the TE cause such match-up problems is something we've seen create havoc throughout the NFL, for generations. I LOVED Sharpe, and although this young kid has a LONG ways to go to step into those boots, I REALLY like what I've seen from him so far. Lets just hope he has the same kind of luck Sharpe had with injuries.