© Sergio Estrada | 2017 Oct 22
After an uneven rookie campaign, former No. 3 overall pick Solomon Thomas was expected to feature more consistently in 2018. That wasn’t the case in the 49ers’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday, however, that saw Thomas play in less than half of the team’s defensive snaps (35 of 71). When Thomas did see the field, he appeared largely ineffective, receiving a 48.5 grade by Pro Football Focus, which ranked 70 out of the 76 edge defenders who saw playing time during Week 1.
49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco joined Gary & Larry on Friday afternoon, and was asked if Thomas’s lack of playing time to start the season was surprising. Maiocco said it wasn’t, before giving a slightly troubling evaluation of the defensive lineman.
“I don’t know that it (surprises me), because I don’t know that he’s a greatly above-average player at anything,” Maiocco said. “I think he does have a high motor, he can get after the quarterback a little bit but that’s as an inside pass rusher where it’s typically difficult to put up big sack numbers. He’s pretty good against the run, but he’s not dominant against the run. He’s not your typical No. 3 overall pick in that sense. I think the 49ers went into it thinking that it was just a solid draft pick and very little risk.”
With DeForest Buckner already establishing himself as a star, and Arik Armstead now healthy, Maiocco believes there is a chance that Thomas could find himself as the odd man out on the 49ers defensive line.
“You look at Buckner, and that’s a physical specimen,” Maiocco said. “That guy is imposing and he’s huge and he’s tall. You look at Armstead the same way, and Armstead is now healthy and he’s able to make a contribution. And then you look at Solomon Thomas and physically he’s not at all somebody that’s imposing or can overpower people. He doesn’t have the quickness necessarily that’s at a high level.
“I think what they want to do is they want to work those three guys into a rotation on nickel downs rushing from the inside. So that means last game Arik Armstead got a lot of run. You know DeForest Buckner is going to play a lot. Then where does that leave Thomas? When he gets his chances he’s going to have to excel or he does run the risk of playing the third spot in a three-man rotation.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Maiocco on Thomas, start from 3:05.
