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Thread: Steelers rookie LB Matthew Thomas went undrafted. But he's not lacking in confidence

  1. #31
    Senior Member Array title="HollywoodSteel has a reputation beyond repute"> HollywoodSteel's Avatar

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    Re: Steelers rookie LB Matthew Thomas went undrafted. But he's not lacking in confidence

    Maybe I’m an optimist (believe me, that will change during the actual games) but I have hope for the kid.

    The light might not “turn on” all at once when it comes to football IQ, but that’s kind of normal for ANY young inside linebacker on our team. Timmons sat for a year, Shazier took awhile too...

    The biggest hurdle the kid really has to face is the “want to” part. It’s the desire. The fire.

    He was absolutely lacking that fire before now... and I’m sure that had a lot to do with off the field stuff. He also lacks the other stuff Dwins pointed out, but I believe those things can be learned... IF the player REALLY wants. He can only
    Learn the technical football stuff at the NFL level if the fire is lit.

    From what I’ve read and seen, I think that fire HAS been lit. I think he’s still gonna struggle the way ALL our rookie ILBs struggle. I’m not saying I’m sure that his fire is lit. I’m not SURE he can be mentally tough enough to work through this part... the part where he can’t just get by on his athleticism.

    But if he WANTS IT bad enough he can be good. Maybe not right away...

    But that brings me to a slightly different point: there was SO much talk about us not drafting the great Shazier replacement this year to fix our woes... even if we had traded up for the best inside linebacker in draft... would people really think that guy would be the difference between champions or non champions THIS YEAR.

    Even if we redrafted Shazier HIMSELF as a rookie... he was nowhere NEAR the player he became in 2017. Our short term problem was unsolvable by the draft. I’m not saying we couldn’t have done something better, like make some incredible trade or whatever... but as far as 2018 goes, no rookie was totally gonna solve the problem.

    Am I way off base?

  2. #32
    Senior Member Array title="pczach has a reputation beyond repute"> pczach's Avatar

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    Re: Steelers rookie LB Matthew Thomas went undrafted. But he's not lacking in confidence

    Quote Originally Posted by HollywoodSteel View Post
    Maybe I’m an optimist (believe me, that will change during the actual games) but I have hope for the kid.

    The light might not “turn on” all at once when it comes to football IQ, but that’s kind of normal for ANY young inside linebacker on our team. Timmons sat for a year, Shazier took awhile too...

    The biggest hurdle the kid really has to face is the “want to” part. It’s the desire. The fire.

    He was absolutely lacking that fire before now... and I’m sure that had a lot to do with off the field stuff. He also lacks the other stuff Dwins pointed out, but I believe those things can be learned... IF the player REALLY wants. He can only
    Learn the technical football stuff at the NFL level if the fire is lit.

    From what I’ve read and seen, I think that fire HAS been lit. I think he’s still gonna struggle the way ALL our rookie ILBs struggle. I’m not saying I’m sure that his fire is lit. I’m not SURE he can be mentally tough enough to work through this part... the part where he can’t just get by on his athleticism.

    But if he WANTS IT bad enough he can be good. Maybe not right away...

    But that brings me to a slightly different point: there was SO much talk about us not drafting the great Shazier replacement this year to fix our woes... even if we had traded up for the best inside linebacker in draft... would people really think that guy would be the difference between champions or non champions THIS YEAR.

    Even if we redrafted Shazier HIMSELF as a rookie... he was nowhere NEAR the player he became in 2017. Our short term problem was unsolvable by the draft. I’m not saying we couldn’t have done something better, like make some incredible trade or whatever... but as far as 2018 goes, no rookie was totally gonna solve the problem.

    Am I way off base?


    I don't know if you're way of base or not. We need to see much more from him before I can make a determination about him. He has a long way to go, but he did some good things in the Eagles game.

    First off....if he doesn't start hustling on every play and running to the ball all over the field until the whistle blows....he's got no shot. Nobody is going to take a chance developing someone that doesn't even hustle and takes himself out of plays. He does have a tendency to do that.

    From a recognition standpoint, I just haven't seen enough from him to know. He's young, and nearly everyone struggles with recognition of plays and assignments as a rookie. He struggled with that in college as well. I'm not saying he can't do it. I'm saying he needs to show consistent effort and start to show the ability to diagnose plays and explode to the ball and make a play in the backfield or right at the line of scrimmage.

    I really don't think we have seen enough to know. I hope you're right, and the kid's light has gone on. I haven't really seen anything concrete to say that has happened at this point.

    I'm in wait-and-see mode with him.

  3. #33
    Senior Member Array title="HollywoodSteel has a reputation beyond repute"> HollywoodSteel's Avatar

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    Re: Steelers rookie LB Matthew Thomas went undrafted. But he's not lacking in confidence

    https://triblive.com/sports/steelers...ide-linebacker

    They are trying him out at OLB too. Might just be a lack of bodies there.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Sorry that didn’t post title of article I linked to:

    Intriguing Steelers rookie ILB Matthew Thomas takes practice reps at outside linebacker

    https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/13969594-74/intriguing-steelers-rookie-ilb-matthew-thomas-takes-practice-reps-at-outside-linebacker

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by HollywoodSteel View Post
    https://triblive.com/sports/steelers...ide-linebacker

    They are trying him out at OLB too. Might just be a lack of bodies there.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Sorry that didn’t post title of article I linked to:

    Intriguing Steelers rookie ILB Matthew Thomas takes practice reps at outside linebacker

    https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/13969594-74/intriguing-steelers-rookie-ilb-matthew-thomas-takes-practice-reps-at-outside-linebacker
    I don’t know if I’m supposed to start a new thread with a new article. But it seemed appropriate here.

  4. #34
    Senior Member Array title="hawaiiansteeler has a reputation beyond repute"> hawaiiansteeler's Avatar

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    Re: Steelers rookie LB Matthew Thomas went undrafted. But he's not lacking in confidence

    Quote Originally Posted by HollywoodSteel View Post
    https://triblive.com/sports/steelers...ide-linebacker

    They are trying him out at OLB too. Might just be a lack of bodies there.
    Tomlin likes position versatility, Thomas will have a much higher chance of making the 53 man roster if he can play both inside and outside.

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