Cameron Thomas NFL Draft Prospect Profile and Scouting Report

NFL Draft Profile: Cameron Thomas, EDGE/DL, San Diego State

Name: Cameron Thomas

School: San Diego State University

Year: r-JR.

Position: Defensive End

Measurables: 6’5”, 270 lbs, per SDSU Athletics.

 

Stats: 

 

General Info:

Born and raised in San Diego County, Thomas attended Carlsbad High School, just two hours north of his future college, playing both sides of the ball for the Lancers. Coming out of High School, he was a three-star recruit. Per 247 Sports, Thomas’ composite rankings were the 101st weak-side defensive end, 205th Californian recruit, and the 1827th ranked recruit nationally. He turned down offers from Oregon State, Wyoming, and Navy in order to remain in San Diego.

Thomas was redshirted in 2018, his first year at SDSU, appearing in just one game (the DXL Frisco Bowl against Ohio State) and seeing his only snaps on special teams.

Following his redshirt season, Thomas stepped into a significant role for the Aztecs’ defense. He started 12 of 13 games in 2019, with all his appearances coming as a defensive tackle in Defensive Coordinator Zach Arnett’s 3-3-5 scheme. Over the course of the year, Thomas racked up nine tackles for a loss and five-and-a-half sacks, finding himself a mainstay on Pro Football Focus’s Mountain West Team of the Week.

Heading into the 2020 season, there was immense optimism about Thomas, who was sliding over to defensive end. During the preseason, he was named “First Team Mountain West” by numerous outlets and was placed on the watchlist for both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards. Thomas appeared in all eight games that year, managing nine-and-a-half tackles for loss and four sacks during the Pandemic shortened season.

Entering his junior year, Thomas repeated as a preseason First Team Mountain West player and as a potential candidate for the Nagurski and Bednarik awards. However, nobody anticipated how dominant Thomas would become during the 2021 season, as he wracked up an incredible 20.5 tackles for loss to go with 11.5 sacks in 14 games en route to being named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.

After his massive season, Thomas declared for the 2022 draft and was invited to the annual NFL scouting combine, where he is expected to test well. He also attended the Senior Bowl but did not play due to a hamstring injury. There does not seem to be much consensus about where he should be drafted currently, with some scouts seeing him as one of this year’s top edge rusher prospects, and others viewing him as a mid-round pick.

Positional Skills:

Strengths

  • Lined up at multiple defensive line spots during three years at SDSU.
  • Managed to produce at an extremely high level despite constant double (and even triple) teams.
  • Polished. Thomas uses his hands well and has a well-developed stable of pass-rushing techniques.
  • Showed up against high-level competition—played very well against Utah’s elite offensive line during the 2021 season.
  • Consistently strong film. Thomas showed up to play every week.

Weaknesses

  • Played at SDSU, so his impressive stats were against generally lesser competition.
  • Almost plays too hard—he tends to burn out towards the end of games.
  • Plays upright, losing leverage and turning pass-rushing downs into extended hand fights if he can’t win quickly.
  • Not a ton of twitch, despite his overall athleticism.

Fit with the Packers:

Depending on who you ask, Cameron Thomas is a mid-to-late first rounder, or a reasonable pick in the third. Personally, I think Thomas is going to wind up getting drafted early on day two, but an edge-needy team could snag him in the 20s. I’ve seen him compared to Sam Hubbard, who wound up going in the third round in 2018, and it seems like an apt comparison.

Thomas should be in strong consideration for Green Bay at pick 28, if they are looking at an edge rusher in the first round. If he is available for the Packers in the second round, they should not hesitate to take him. At 6’5” and 270 lbs (per SDSU’s measurements) he is a similar size to the Smith Brothers and Rashan Gary, so he certainly fits within Green Bay’s prototype for an edge rusher. Like Gary, Thomas can step in as a third edge defender as he adapts to the NFL game, learning behind veterans before stepping into a starting role in his second or third season.

 

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Comments (2)

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BirdDogUni's picture

March 01, 2022 at 09:18 pm

Seems more like a 4 - 3 Defensive End than an OLBer, but maybe that's what we need? One draft site has him as a 2nd round value, but if we look at GBs draft history, I expect Gutey to go WR in round two this year. Yet Gutey keeps surprising me at every turn so maybe he goes OLBer in rounds 1 & 2 this year? Not the worst idea I've ever heard.

If we lose both Preston and Z, maybe we should?

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BirdDogUni's picture

March 01, 2022 at 11:41 pm

Judging by the picture, he has some pretty decent bend... ; P

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