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Former Buckeye Michael Thomas on pace for historic season
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Each week, it gets harder to believe Ohio State didn’t win the national championship last year.
We’ve talked about Ezekiel Elliott and his remarkable season with the Dallas Cowboys and Joey Bosa’s immediate impact with the San Diego Chargers. But there’s a third Buckeye – receiver Michael Thomas – who’s also in the midst of a breakthrough rookie year.
On NFL.com, Thomas’ season was compared to Odell Beckham through the first half of the year, pretty good company for a wide receiver. The New Orleans pass-catcher has already posted 47 receptions for 573 yards and five TDs. If his production keeps up, he’ll be in store for an impressive year.
NFL.com ran the numbers for Thomas if he stays at the same pace:
Thomas is on pace for a rookie season of at least 90 receptions, 1,000 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches. Per NFL Research, only one player has reached those gaudy totals in his first year in the league: Odell Beckham.
In his rookie season in 2014, Beckham caught 91 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 TDs. What’s impressive about his performance, though, was that the New York Giant accomplished that in just 12 games.
Last Sunday, Thomas made this impressive catch against San Francisco to gain some recognition league-wide:
Thomas is no stranger to improbable catches. In 2014, he made this grab against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl:
Not only is Thomas putting up impressive numbers, he’s doing it in impressive ways. He’s likely to find himself on the highlight reel frequently throughout his career and might be in the record book by the end of the year.
There’s still a lot of season left, but it appears Thomas is well on his way to earning a pretty nice contract at the pro level.
At Ohio State, Thomas caught 113 passes for 1,602 yards and 18 TDs. His best season came in 2014. He caught 54 passes for 799 yards and nine TDs, helping the Buckeyes claim the national title.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB