Jeff Thomas signed with the Miami football program in 2017 as a highly touted, explosive four-star wide receiver. Thomas leaves Coral Gables with questions about his character and some highlight-reel plays with maddening inconsistency.
Jeff Thomas was a big play wide receiver and return man during his three seasons with the Miami football program. Thomas leaves the Hurricanes after his junior season for the NFL Draft after nearly transferring to Illinois following a sophomore season which he led the team in receptions.
Thomas ended his career with Miami contributing 83 receptions for 1,316 yards and eight touchdowns. On special teams, Thomas averaged 22.6 yards per kickoff returns and 18.9 yards on punt returns with a spectacular TD against Virginia Tech in 2018. Thomas is headed towards being a third-day selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Based on his talent alone if some team takes a chance on the mercurial Thomas he could go as high as the fourth round. CBS Sports projected Thomas in the middle round to the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this month. Kansas City would be a perfect landing spot for Thomas with the Chiefs’ wide-open offense.
Thomas is the highest rated Miami player on the board at 142nd by CBS Sports Josh Edwards. That is nearly 30 spots higher than his next closest former teammate, defensive end Jonathan Garvin who is 172nd. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.Com does not have any Miami football players in his top 150.
There is a lot of misinformation that Thomas did not put up bigger numbers at Miami because of poor coaching at Miami or the quarterbacks’ inability to get him the ball when he is open. There is some truth to that, but there have been numerous character issues with Thomas and multiple suspensions in his Miami career.
"“Highly explosive playmaker with field-stretching speed and short-area quickness to tempt teams looking for viable three-level solutions from the slot. Thomas’ impressive athleticism and talent were wasted by sub-par quarterbacking and self-sabotage.On tape, he creates chunk plays as a vertical threat, on crossing routes and with wide receiver screens and jet sweeps. He relies on athletic gifts over route acumen, but that can be corrected. His draft profile is bolstered by his potential as a return man, but he’s likely to have his name scratched from some draft boards due to character concerns, despite the talent.”"
The evaluation by Lance Zierlein of NFL.Com is a thinly veiled way of saying it is time for Thomas to grow up. He has the athletic gifts to be a threat to score every time he touches the ball in the NFL. Some analysts have compared him to the Kansas Chiefs Tyreke Hill who also had off the field questions in college.
Jeff Thomas needs to be more like Hill on the field and less off of it. The multiple slipups at Miami led to his decision to leave in some ways helping the Hurricanes by addition by subtraction. Any missteps in the NFL by Thomas and he could lose his chance to be an impact player with whatever team drafts him.