ESPN’s Field Yates thought the Thomas selection was of great value in Round 3.
“Thomas lasted until this pick because of his lack of elite speed,” Yates said. “Scouts at Florida State’s pro day clocked him between 4.57 and 4.59 in the 40-yard dash, which is below average for a starting cornerback in the NFL. But Thomas does more than enough to make up for that speed. He has excellent size, ball skills and physicality to get up in the face of wideouts. Like many of the picks highlighted here, the value was too great to pass up on a talented player.”
Thomas faced football adversity last season as Florida State, a school that returned to national prominence in 2023, but that fell back to 2-10 overall and 1-7 in the ACC. He allowed just 17 catches while registering 52 tackles, 5 PDs, 1.5 sacks and 1 INT.
“I grew exponentially, man, not only as a player, but as a person,” he said. “And like I’ve been telling everybody else, we all have these goals, these aspirations. But who are you if you don’t achieve them, and so we didn’t achieve it, anything that we set out to do, and really truly it tells who you are is how you respond to that. And that’s something that I learned from my head coach [Mike Norvell]. It’s something that I’m going to take with me forever, so it was tough, but I grew as a person and I wouldn’t take that back for anything.”
The Jets were on the search for tough, physical, aggressive and resilient players throughout the draft and Thomas checked every box.
“The people down there that have been around him raved about AZ’s character, his makeup, his football makeup, his toughness, and his leadership, so that was definitely an important part of it,” said Jets GM Darren Mougey.
A core special teamer his first two seasons at Florida State, Thomas took off in Year 3 while making 12 starts and never looked back.
“I’m physical,” he said. “I’m going to smother you, I’m going to lock down my side of the field and I’m a great teammate.”