No love for Daniel Thomas

[Krush]

Sounds like Jonas Gray time

 

[The Goat]

I think that DT is fine...as a committee back. Your own stats pretty much point out the issue; he's average.

The hate may be caused by him reminding way too many people of Mark Higgs, Sammy Smith, Lorenzo Hampton, etc.

 

[miamiron]

He looked good in his rookie year when he wasn't hurt - he's regressed a lot since then.

He stunk during his rookie year for the most part
3.5 yards per rush and ZERO rushing tds...not sure how one regresses from those stats

 

[allsilverdreams]

dont love or hate DT i think we have to keep him around due to our lack of RB on this team we dont need another hole to fill esp if Bush leaves.Miller looked good at times but is he a #1 ??? not sure

 

[deester11]

The Original Poster seems to really feel like DT is getting a bad deal. However, I'm of the mind that I don't like him or dislike him. He doesn't do anything considered special. It's ok to defend the guy, but the people who objectively view him as nothing special aren't wrong.

 

[SCLSU Mud Dogs]

DT had 91 carries on the year.

Of those carries he rushed 11 times for 18 yards when down and distance was less than 2 yards.
Additionally he had another 15 carries for 24 yards within the opponents 10 yard line.
So 26 carries for 42 yards in situtations where you don't expect the average gain.

That is 26 of 91 carries (28.5% of the time).
Takeaway those carries and DT average goes from 3.6 up to 4.35 yards per carry

By comparison Reggie Bush had 227 carries

Of those carries he rushed 23 times for 85 yards when down and distance was less than 2 yards.
Additionally he had another 7 carries for 14 yards within the opponents 10 yard line.
So 30 carries for 99 yards in situtations where you don't expect the average gain.

That is 30 of 227 carries (13.2% of the time).
Takeaway those carries and RB average goes from 4.3 up to 4.5 yards per carry

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/9588/reggie-bush

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/14056/daniel-thomas

There is that good enough proof for you?

Fair enough, my friend. Eating crow on my statement.

 

[Mogwai]

Ridley and Murray have 100 more touches than DT and both are on better offensive teams. Patriots #1, Cowboys #6, Dolphins 27th.

Better teams, more chances and only slightly better production.

So you're making the case that DT has the ability that Demarco and Ridley have proven, it's just a matter of surrounding talent? You would be incorrect and that is just excuse making. DT is the least productive RB on this team. Pats and Cowboys are prolific passing teams without anything even remotely near a dominant run blocking line. They have their own challenges. Not to mention DT is older than both of them. Demarco and Ridley have demonstrated substantially more ability at this level than DT and there's nothing slight about the production difference when you're talking over 1 ypc more and 3 times the TDs.

 

[ckparrothead]

Fair enough, my friend. Eating crow on my statement.

No need to eat crow. Read down a little further to my response. Even if you account for REAL short yardage situations (2nd & 1 and 2nd & 2 do not qualify), Thomas' numbers are terrible and they are still about a yard shy of Reggie Bush and Lamar Miller behind the same OL.

 

[ckparrothead]

And on cue, there's this note:

### Daniel Thomas’ mid-December knee injury required surgery, according to his representation – he should be fine by the spring – and the second-round pick has fallen behind Lamar Miller in the organization’s eyes. Disconcerting: His three fumbles were the most by any NFL back with fewer than 100 carries, and only four backs with as many attempts had a lower per-carry average than Thomas’ 3.6. Incidentally, Reggie Bush tied for the league lead among backs with five fumbles.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy