In his three years in the NFL, Dallas Thomas has had to play a couple of different positions. The 2012 third-round pick has spent time at left guard, right guard, and right tackle. For a young player, it is never good to be moved around the line that much, you can’t just plug-and-play a guy at different positions.
Working at more than one position changes muscle memory tendencies and Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Bill Lazor wants Thomas to stick with just one position.
“Well I think it’s pretty clear that three guys are competing right now at a high level. I think Dallas Thomas is a much improved player from what we saw last year,” Lazor explained. “Again we were talking about staying in one position. That’s one thing Dallas wasn’t able to do last year but I think it showing us he’s in one spot right now.”
So far in camp, the defensive line has dominated the line of the scrimmage and All-Pro Ndamukong Suh believes it will only help the line get better.
“Billy (Turner) and Dallas (Thomas) have obviously, they’ve been playing, they are young guys, they understand what they need to get done there,” Suh pointed out. “They’re athletic, they can move, they challenge me as I hope I challenge them every single day in practice. At the end of the day, like I said, we want to push each other on both sides of the ball. I want to dominate Dallas, I want to dominate Billy at the end of the day. That’s my job.”
Thomas was one of the worst tackles (and guards) according to Pro Football Focus last season. With a clear-cut position in 2015, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the third-year vet take a step forward in the upcoming season.
