[DYNASTY] Colts UDFA WR Eric Thomas (1 Viewer)

[EBF]

I'm always on the lookout for cheap, high-upside flyers and this guy seems to fit the bill. For all the talk about Coleman, Crowell, and Lyerla, this might be my favorite UDFA in this draft class. Very interesting project to take a no-risk flyer on.

He played his college ball at Troy and broke T.Y. Hilton's Sun Belt record with 29 career touchdown catches. He finished his career with 197 catches for 2655 yards and averaged a TD every 6.79 catches. That compares pretty favorably with any of the top WRs in this draft. He wasn't just a red zone threat either. He ranks third all-time in career receptions in Troy history. He was first team All-Sun Belt as a senior.

He has the requisite physical tools to be an NFL starter on paper. 6'0.5" and 216 pounds for a Dez-like BMI of 28.9. He wasn't invited to the combine, but ran 4.53 in the 40 and jumped 37" in the vertical and 10'3" in the broad jump at his pro day. There aren't that many complete game clips of him out there, but I was able to piece some of the best moments into a brief highlight reel. He definitely looks pretty monstrous out there. You can see for yourself here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIP2UmUiPoI

The obvious question is with all of these things going in his favor, why wasn't he drafted? Troy isn't such a small program that a great talent should go unnoticed. DeMarcus Ware was a first round pick. Jerrel Jernigan was a 3rd rounder just a few years ago. If we know about Thomas then certainly NFL teams know about him. Maybe he's just not very good.

I don't have an answer to that and I haven't really seen enough of his clips to know his game inside and out. He can obviously catch a jump ball, he's obviously a threat after the catch, and he looks good on deep routes. Whether or not he can run precise short-intermediate routes is unclear to me. He looks almost too pigeon-toed for his own good and none of the clips I've seen have shown him running some of the tougher footwork routes like a comeback, square in, or out. It's all screens, slants, and deep stuff. So maybe his footwork isn't clean or precise enough to thrive in the NFL. That's the only thing I can think of.

With all that said, the Colts signed him just minutes after the draft. He was one of their first FA transactions:

http://www.dothaneagle.com/sports/troy/article_ed3023ba-d8b4-11e3-82c7-001a4bcf6878.html

Eric Thomas, the Trojans’ leading receiver last season, agreed to an undrafted free agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts just minutes after the draft’s conclusion.


“ They offered a great opportunity. I’ll go in trying to win a spot on their 53-man roster,” he said. “It’s the best possible fit.”

Thomas, who had been projected as a possible draft choice, noted the last few days have “been stressful.”

“I’ve just been chilling with my family and friends, trying to keep my mind off of it,” he said. “When my agent called and said this was the best offer, I said, ‘Alright, let’s go.’”

The most likely scenario with a UDFA like this is that he doesn't show enough in training camp to make the 53 man roster, gets cut, and winds up on the practice squad or worse before fading into obscurity. That's probably what will happen here, but I think he's intriguing enough to warrant a roster spot in a deep league where you have room to hold for the next three months and see what you've got. His college production is good, he has the right physical tools to be a high volume NFL WR if he pans out, and the situation is compelling with Luck as the QB and Wayne/Nicks not exactly being locked into the team's future.

 

[tone1oc]

Good stuff OP. He was completely off my radar. He definitely looks like a man among boys which is what I like to see in a small school player. Interesting name to keep an eye on but I think it will be hard for me to roster given how far he is buried on that depth chart.

 

[EBF]

Good stuff OP. He was completely off my radar. He definitely looks like a man among boys which is what I like to see in a small school player. Interesting name to keep an eye on but I think it will be hard for me to roster given how far he is buried on that depth chart.

It's going to be tough for Thomas to make this roster. The Colts would likely have to either keep 6 WRs or make a surprise cut. I think with a longshot UDFA like this your best hope is not that he lucks himself into a good situation, but rather that he forces the issue with his performance on the field. The obvious poster boy at WR in the past few years is Victor Cruz. I'm sure the Giants didn't have him penciled into their 53 when camp opened, but he became too valuable to cut. That's also how it went with Drew Bennett when he made the Titans all those years ago. That was not part of the plan when camp opened.

Is that a likely outcome? No. The likely outcome is him getting cut and doing nothing. In a deep league though, the only risk is the price of a roster spot for the next 4 months. It might not be worth it in certain formats. At the very least I'd place him on your speed dial list and put your ear to the ground for any news in training camp and the preseason. He checks off pretty much every box beside what might be the most important one (NFL draft position). I'd like him exponentially more if some team had wanted him badly enough to commit even a 7th round pick to him, but all the same he looks like a nice preemptive stash.

 

[tone1oc]

Just watched his tape against Arkansas State, a pretty good team that won a bowl game last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXyGiUWbVek

As you said it looks like he has good ball skills and a looks good on deep routes. To me what sticks out (about 1:07) is how natural he looks with the ball in his hands, particularly on the end arounds. Demonstrates nice patience, sets up his blockers well while keeping fluid and smooth. Almost reminds of a bigger upright running back.

 

[Bruce Hammond]

Thomas was the 73rd ranked rookie WR this year by NFLDraftscout.com. That's pretty far down the list. Each year there are generally 30-something WRs drafted and a small handful beyond that who ever stick on a roster, or eventually make it up from the PS to a roster. Odds are long for this guy.

That said, odds were long for these fairly recent WRs too:

Cruz, Victor NYG W-10 UD.073

Boykin, Jarrett GB W-12 UD.049

Baldwin, Doug SEA W-11 UD.071

Streater, Rod OAK W-12 UD.106

Brown, Marlon BAL W-13 UD.050

Kearse, Jermaine SEA W-12 UD.050

Beasley, Cole DAL W-12 UD.104

Hundreds have become nobodies though, and no player is free. They all cost a roster spot that might be better used elsewhere until there is at least some evidence there's reason to add him from the WW ahead of other owners.

 

[tone1oc]

I agree Bruce, I just don't think there would be desire among other owners that would warrant a need to roster him. I'll definitely keep an eye on him though.

 

[EBF]

Just watched his tape against Arkansas State, a pretty good team that won a bowl game last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXyGiUWbVek

As you said it looks like he has good ball skills and a looks good on deep routes. To me what sticks out (about 1:07) is how natural he looks with the ball in his hands, particularly on the end arounds. Demonstrates nice patience, sets up his blockers well while keeping fluid and smooth. Almost reminds of a bigger upright running back.

Small detail, but I think he was a team captain last season too. Usually indicates a hard worker/high character type of person.

One thing I like about him is that if you look into his game logs, he was usually pretty effective when given the chance to play against a higher level of competition. Pretty good numbers in out of conference games. Highlight of that would be a 6 catch, 147 yards, 2 TD game against Tennessee in 2012.

 

[Gawain]

As a complete aside, how does an UDFA get paid? Do they get any bonus at all? They'd have to get paid something for practices I imagine, but how much?

 

[EBF]

As a complete aside, how does an UDFA get paid? Do they get any bonus at all? They'd have to get paid something for practices I imagine, but how much?

Some details on Green Bay's UDFA signings here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/9674/hubbard-among-tops-in-udfa-bonus-bucks

Looks like a signing bonus of between $2-7k is pretty standard. I don't know what the players are paid for training camp and preseason, but I'm assuming it's some sort of league minimum non-guaranteed deal.

Interestingly, it's not totally unprecedented for them to be paid a lot more though. Two years ago the Cowboys paid Ronald Leary $215k in guaranteed salary and signing bonuses as a UDFA. That's far from the norm though. From the source of that tidbit:

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4693534/cowboys-paid-undrafted-ronald-leary

Leary wasn’t the only undrafted free agent to receive a guaranteed portion of his base salary. The Cowboys will pay wide receiver Tim Benford $20,000 and long snapper Charley Hughlett $10,000. Wide receiver Saleem Hakim received the highest signing bonus among the college free agents at $10,000 and will also receive $7,500 in base salary.Teams were limited in how much signing bonus they could give their undrafted free agents, which meant a number of teams also offered portions of guaranteed salary to entice players to sign.

 

[tone1oc]

As a complete aside, how does an UDFA get paid? Do they get any bonus at all? They'd have to get paid something for practices I imagine, but how much?

Some details on Green Bay's UDFA signings here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/9674/hubbard-among-tops-in-udfa-bonus-bucks

Looks like a signing bonus of between $2-7k is pretty standard. I don't know what the players are paid for training camp and preseason, but I'm assuming it's some sort of league minimum non-guaranteed deal.

Interestingly, it's not totally unprecedented for them to be paid a lot more though. Two years ago the Cowboys paid Ronald Leary $215k in guaranteed salary and signing bonuses as a UDFA. That's far from the norm though. From the source of that tidbit:

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4693534/cowboys-paid-undrafted-ronald-leary

Leary wasn’t the only undrafted free agent to receive a guaranteed portion of his base salary. The Cowboys will pay wide receiver Tim Benford $20,000 and long snapper Charley Hughlett $10,000. Wide receiver Saleem Hakim received the highest signing bonus among the college free agents at $10,000 and will also receive $7,500 in base salary.Teams were limited in how much signing bonus they could give their undrafted free agents, which meant a number of teams also offered portions of guaranteed salary to entice players to sign.

FWIW a friend of mine who was a kicker was paid $32K for the Bears training camp back in 2008. That's at least the low perspective.

 

[The Claymaker]

Was he actually signed to a contract yet? I don't see this guy listed on any site as part of the depth chart. I see where he was signed/invited to come to participate, but don't see anything else. Any new news one way or another on this guy?

I saw that TE they signed (Swoope) has been getting praise from the coaches but he was the only one I saw mentioned.

 

[EBF]

Was he actually signed to a contract yet? I don't see this guy listed on any site as part of the depth chart. I see where he was signed/invited to come to participate, but don't see anything else. Any new news one way or another on this guy?

He's on their roster on their website.

http://www.colts.com/team/roster.html

The signing is listed on their transaction page (5/12):

http://www.colts.com/team/transactions.html

ESPN has them on the Indy roster as well:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/17092/eric-thomas

This wasn't a tryout as far as I know. He was one of the first UDFA guys they signed. The article above indicates that they agreed terms minutes after the draft.