Photo by Bruce Ely | The Oregonian
There’s a reason NFL draft analysts weren’t considering Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas on their draft boards… he wasn’t supposed to be going pro.
Well, Thomas threw a rock at their window to wake them up today when he announced in the most informal press release EVER that he would be declaring for the NFL draft.
According to Thomas’ high school coach, who was one of the many people with a hand in the decision-making process, Thomas didn’t think he had anything else to accomplish before pursuing his dream of being a professional athlete. After losing the national title game a year ago, and then winning Oregon’s first Rose Bowl in nearly a century this season, he apparently felt pretty chill about his decision.
So Oregon, who finished No. 4 in the end-of-season polls, couldn’t do anything to bring back the quarterback who runs its system like the “Minnesota Miracle Man” (Charlie Conway, please). Oregon, who loses LaMichael James but counters that by returning DeAnthony Thomas (who is LITERALLY faster than the speed of light. FACT), was a sure-fire pick to win the national title next season… with Darron Thomas as the QB. But a title run wasn’t in the cards for him.
Unfortunately, Thomas appears not to have checked the latest draft boards, which don’t have his name anywhere on them. The good news is Thomas is listed on one person’s draft board — Rob Rang, a CBS Sports blogger. The bad news is he had Thomas as the 12th best quarterback in the 2013 draft class… THAT’S NEXT YEAR!
Consider this: Michigan’s Denard Robinson is a similar quarterback, although Thomas may actually be the better player by definition of the term “quarterback.” Robinson decided to come back to Michigan instead of going pro. Robinson and Michigan would’ve had similar preseason hopes as Thomas and Oregon would’ve. I think it’s also pretty clear that Robinson realizes he’s actually a terrible quarterback and just a better system guy at Michigan. So he thinks, “Why ruin a good thing,” especially since he has no future in the NFL at that position. It makes sense.
Clearly, Thomas and Robinson aren’t Facebook buds and/or have never exchanged cell phone numbers… because they CLEARLY never talked about how dumb a decision this is.