I had high hopes for Daniel Thomas after watching him his first two games, but now with the Lamar Miller selection, we have a pretty crowded backfield and if things don't turn around for the Dolphins, Thomas could start to move toward the bust column. Then you hear of Reggie Bush missing camp and tweeting that Las Vegas is the devil. The Dolphins come to the season ill prepared and with shoddy execution on the field. With Shula, JJ and even the 1st year for Parcells we were the kings of Sept and Oct now with no discipline in upper management, we're (Ireland) chumps early on. By the time they get their heads on straight they're usually well below .500.
So Philbin and his Dolphins offensive staff have been charged with extracting more from the young players, including three that Ireland coveted in last year’s draft and are key to his vision for the offense: Daniel Thomas, Clyde Gates and Charles Clay. Thomas and Gates exited their rookie seasons with more questions than answers.
Thomas managed just a 3.5 per carry average – 59th among 67 qualifying backs - and now faces competition from Lamar Miller for playing time behind Reggie Bush.
“I can’t worry about who they’re drafting,” Thomas said of Miller. “I know I’ve gotten better. The injuries affected me a lot last year. They messed my mind up. I lost the confidence I had. I didn’t have the same burst I had earlier” when he ran for 107 and 95 yards in his first two games. (He ran for just 379 in the 11 others.)
Thomas said his 3.5 average (including 2.9 in the fourth quarter) is unacceptable and “very disappointing,” adding, “I think I can average 5.0 a carry in this league.”
Also troubling: his 1.9 yards-per-carry average after contact – fifth-worst among NFL backs. That’s one reason he added seven pounds, to 235. “I wanted to get stronger because I lost some of the leg drive I had early on. I was stopped on first contact and that’s not me.”
Thomas, who averaged 5.2 per carry in two years at Kansas State, is encouraged because “our offense is doing a lot more zone running, and we ran well last year when we zoned. That’s something I did in college a lot.”
Thomas was the fifth back drafted (62nd overall) after Mark Ingram (3.9 average), Shane Vereen (just 57 yards) and Ryan Williams and Mikel Leshoure (both injured reserve). What’s worrisome is the sixth back taken - Dallas’ DeMarco Murray, nine spots after Thomas – was far better than Thomas (897 yards, 5.5 average). And Thomas’ per-carry average trailed that of the seventh back (Stevan Ridley at 5.1), the ninth (Roy Helu, 4.2) and 10th (Kendall Hunter, 4.2), though all had fewer carries.
Read more here:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy