By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–As the fourth practice of Lions training camp came to a close on Wednesday, wide receiver Noel Thomas, an undrafted rookie free agent out of UConn, was carrying two sets of shoulder pads: one was his own, the other belonged to veteran wideout Marvin Jones.
That’s par for the course as an NFL rookie, but Thomas has no qualms with it. He’s taking it in stride. And besides, he’s got plenty of other things to focus on other than being annoyed at carrying a veteran’s pads after practice.
“It’s respect,” he said. “I’m just doing my duties.”
Thomas, 22, hauled in 100 receptions for 1,179 yards for the Huskies in his senior season, and he’s excited to represent UConn in the NFL.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “A lot of people think UConn is just a basketball school. I know Dan Orlovsky played here. I’m trying to carry on that tradition.”
The 6-foot-one receiver has been able to show off his impressive hands at training camp thus far, especially in the one-on-one drills against the defensive backs where he’s made some very nice catches. During one-one-ones on Wednesday, Thomas made several nice grabs, including a terrific leaping catch in the corner of the end zone against fellow rookie Jamal Agnew, but he wasn’t able to come down in bounds for the score.
The battle for the fourth (and possibly fifth) wide receiver spot is already a fiercely competitive one between TJ Jones, Jace Billingsley, Jared Abbrederis and several others. And to even have a chance at beating out the others and securing a spot for himself on the 53-man roster, Thomas will have to make as many plays as possible because every rep counts in training camp.
“Obviously, being one, a rookie, and two, undrafted, opportunities are limited,” said Thomas. “So I have to take advantage of those opportunities. And I think one of my biggest strengths is my hands, so I want to showcase that as much as I can. But there’s always things to work on. Like you said, I gotta get that second foot down.”
By making reference to the aforementioned play against Agnew, Thomas revealed he’s a player eager to minimize his mistakes. And with veterans like Golden Tate and Marvin Jones on the team, he’s got plenty of football minds at his disposal to learn valuable lessons from.
“I have good guys in front of me: Marvin Jones and Golden Tate,” Thomas said. “And I’m trying to learn a lot from them and I am learning a lot from them.”
He added: “They lead by example. They show us how to run certain routes and just little tips that we wouldn’t do in college that is different in the NFL.”
Earlier in the week, Tate had some high praise for the young receivers, saying, “I would say my young guys have been phenomenal.They are learning the material. They are playing fast already, which is special.” He also mentioned Thomas specifically, saying, “Noel is making some big plays.”
Thomas was happy to hear his name was mentioned by Tate.
“It means everything, especially coming from him,” he said. “He always has his door open for any questions we have. He’s always willing to help. And I respect him a lot.”
Like most rookies, Thomas mentioned the speed of the game increasing and the challenge of learning the playbook, to which he said, “I think I’m handling it really well.”
As for his goals for the rest of training camp, Thomas keeps them simplified.
“Every day I just want to take it one day at a time,” he said. “I don’t want to look further ahead. Each day is just another day at camp and I just want to get open and catch the ball. That’s it.”