Payton said that Kikaha is moving to DE this year. Richardson is not slated to be a starter. Starting DE's will be Jordan and Kikaha.

In passing situations that would be outstanding, I just don't think Kikaha can hold the edge against the run... Maybe he is adding a bit of weight though.

In passing situations that would be outstanding, I just don't think Kikaha can hold the edge against the run... Maybe he is adding a bit of weight though.

We need a DT that could rush the passer. We drafted the best one in the draft
We needed a sure handed WR to replace Colston. We drafted his clone.
We needed a cover safety, and drafted the best cover safety in the draft

What the hell else were you guys wanting?

And who knows... we actually might have a GOOD FREAKING DRAFT....
Some how we all doubt it based on experience.

We need a DT that could rush the passer. We drafted the best one in the draft
We needed a sure handed WR to replace Colston. We drafted his clone.
We needed a cover safety, and drafted the best cover safety in the draft

What the hell else were you guys wanting?

or great run after the catch (which doesn't take top end speed).

Thats is wrong according to nearly every scout report
Various reports

YAC

Yards After Catch is key to being a productive receiver. Once you catch the ball, you have to be able to turn upfield quickly and elude or break tackles to gain additional yards.

Thomas’s YAC ability is very good, as he possesses the quickness to turn upfield immediately after he’s secured the catch and make defenders miss using both elusive moves and the play strength to break tackles.




Thomas’ has made some impressive grabs during his time at Ohio State, showing the strong hands and toughness to make plays in traffic. You want to see a big receiver play big at the catch point and box defenders out, and Thomas has the my-ball mentality teams will covet.

There just aren’t many weaknesses to Thomas’ well-oiled skill set, as the big receiver is aggressive and physical against press coverage, showing the quick feet to slip jams and the hand usage to fight off longer corners down the field. He’s rarely altered in his route by contact, as Thomas understands pre-catch positioning as well as any receiver in the draft. The Ohio State pass-catcher offers the added bonus of being quite deadly after the catch, transitioning quickly from receiver to runner by working upfield immediately after the reception.



Here is the PFF draft profile for Ohio State wide receiver Michael Thomas, which incorporates PFF’s college grades and scouting intel from our team of analysts. To see all of PFF’s 2016 scouting reports, click here.

Position fit:
Outside wide receiver – 670 of his 711 snaps in 2015 were spent on the outside

Stat to know:
Dropped just five of the 115 catchable passes thrown his way over the past two seasons

What he does best:
• Very good hands, just five drops in 2014 and 2015
• Good after the catch, averaged 6.6 yards after the catch per reception and forced a missed tackle on 23.2 percent of his receptions in 2015
• Uses hands well to defeat press coverage, helping to create separation
• Impressive footwork, looked very good on double moves

I use the eye ball test. In college, nearly half of your games are played against extremely inferior opponents. His overall numbers are very average even factoring in those games. YAC includes any kind of yards after catch. I'm thinking about yards after CONTACT, or extra yards after you're forward progress has been impeded. Something he will see much more of in the NFL. I have no doubt he piled up plenty on wide open throws down field. I saw a lot of Ohio State games, and this guy never did much to impress me.

As far as reading scouting reports, I've read that his route running is not very polished, and that he doesn't really fight for the off target ball.

It makes sense that PFF (the "scouting" service I make fun of routinely) would be the one to try to contradict all of that. I've seen the guy play. I'm not overly impressed.