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During the Jets’ recent rookie minicamp, Aaron Glenn, while tried to walk around the whole field and check in on all position groups, you could tell he was looking at third-round rookie corner Azareye’h Thomas like a hawk.
Having Glenn, a former great NFL cornerback, as his head coach, is going to be huge for the maturation process of Thomas, and he knows it.
“Having your head coach having been a former corner, I mean, you really can’t ask for nothing greater than that,’ said Thomas, a native of Niceville, FL, a town on the Florida Gulf Coast.
While his position coach, Dre Bly, a former NFL cornerback himself, is going to help Thomas’ development a ton, Glenn is also going to have a huge impact on the kid.
Glenn is really good at developing defensive backs. He was in New Orleans as well as in Detroit, the last two stops of his assistant coaching career before getting the head coaching with Jets in January.
Don’t be shocked if Thomas performs above his third round draft slot.
“I talk to our coaches about this – I want our free agents to play like draft picks, I want our third-round picks to play like first-round picks,” Glenn said after taking over the Jets.
I’m telling you, Glenn is so good at developing defensive backs, don’t be shocked if this happens with Thomas.
The only reason it might not happen is Thomas’ long speed, having run a 4.58 forty.
“If he had posted a good time, he likely goes at the top of the second round,” said
former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah. “When he ran that time, I think it’s what dropped him to this point in the draft.”
I don’t think Thomas’ forty time will be a big problem if he does a great job jamming receivers at the line and if the Jets generate a consistent pass rush, but if there are plays where he has to hold up forever, the 4.58 could be a problem.
But you now what, the Buffalo Bills just gave cornerback Christian Benford a 4-year, $69 million extension and he ran 4.53 before coming into the league.
Benford makes up for his average speed with good technique and instincts, two things that Thomas gets high marks for. Two other things that are big plusses in Thomas’ game are his long arms and terrific ball skills.
Look, if the speed becomes a problem, 6’ 1 1/2’’ and 197 lbs he could always move to safety down the road.
But the Jets are going to start him off at cornerback, and view him as an ascending player at the position, and Glenn loves how Thomas mauls receivers is at the line
“It’s a reason that we drafted him because that’s one of the things that we look at highly when it comes to corners and how disruptive you are at the line of scrimmage. He was one of the better ones coming out this year,” Glenn said. “When you just watch him and really study him, man, his hand placement, he has this move of not just a one-hand punch, but he has a two-hand punch that a lot of guys can’t do.”
And with Glenn coaching him, along with Bly, expect him to realize his maximum potential on the NFL level, whatever that might turnout to be be.
May 15, 2025
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