It's a slow time of year in the NFL, which is why the news is filled with stories about modest players drawing attention at offseason workouts. All of this stuff must be monitored, but there are a lot of stories not worth taking too seriously. Like Ian Thomas.
There's a story at ESPN.com that says the veteran Carolina tight end "has stolen the spotlight at a position that is featured in Dave Canales' passing game." Stranger things have happened, but I'm not seeing Thomas as a guy anyone should be looking to add.
The former fourth-rounder has been in league for six seasons now, and never reached 350 yards. He has 4 career touchdowns. The Panthers drafted Ja'Tavion Sanders in the fourth round, who still has plenty of time to move ahead of Thomas.
And more importantly, will the tight ends actually be featured in Dave Canales' passing game? They weren't last year.
Table below show team tight end production a year ago, sorted by yards per game. Carolina last year ranked 27th, which is awful, but Canales was the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay, and the Bucs were even worse (30th).
| TEAM TIGHT END PRODUCTION, 2023 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Tgt | No | Yards | TD | YPG |
| Atlanta | 174 | 114 | 1380 | 7 | 81.2 |
| Minnesota | 179 | 135 | 1367 | 8 | 80.4 |
| Kansas City | 171 | 126 | 1315 | 8 | 77.4 |
| Arizona | 179 | 132 | 1269 | 5 | 74.6 |
| Jacksonville | 167 | 132 | 1153 | 5 | 67.8 |
| Cleveland | 166 | 109 | 1095 | 9 | 64.4 |
| San Francisco | 95 | 69 | 1064 | 6 | 62.6 |
| Baltimore | 110 | 82 | 1042 | 12 | 61.3 |
| Detroit | 136 | 101 | 1008 | 11 | 59.3 |
| Houston | 115 | 81 | 899 | 7 | 52.9 |
| Buffalo | 130 | 97 | 885 | 5 | 52.1 |
| Indianapolis | 119 | 70 | 883 | 6 | 51.9 |
| New England | 121 | 84 | 871 | 9 | 51.2 |
| Dallas | 126 | 83 | 864 | 7 | 50.8 |
| Chicago | 112 | 88 | 860 | 7 | 50.6 |
| NY Jets | 125 | 87 | 858 | 1 | 50.5 |
| LA Chargers | 133 | 90 | 854 | 8 | 50.2 |
| NY Giants | 107 | 81 | 843 | 2 | 49.6 |
| Seattle | 99 | 74 | 833 | 3 | 49.0 |
| Green Bay | 100 | 77 | 793 | 4 | 46.6 |
| Washington | 121 | 85 | 767 | 4 | 45.1 |
| Cincinnati | 115 | 88 | 686 | 4 | 40.4 |
| Philadelphia | 96 | 68 | 669 | 3 | 39.4 |
| LA Rams | 88 | 62 | 668 | 3 | 39.3 |
| Tennessee | 98 | 65 | 649 | 2 | 38.2 |
| New Orleans | 91 | 64 | 600 | 9 | 35.3 |
| Carolina | 98 | 59 | 561 | 4 | 33.0 |
| Las Vegas | 73 | 54 | 548 | 2 | 32.2 |
| Pittsburgh | 93 | 62 | 536 | 2 | 31.5 |
| Tampa Bay | 81 | 55 | 505 | 5 | 29.7 |
| Miami | 52 | 41 | 414 | 0 | 24.4 |
| Denver | 62 | 39 | 362 | 4 | 21.3 |
Canales came to Tampa Bay from Seattle, and the Seahawks made more use of their tight ends. If I did this table for 2022, Seattle would have showed up in the top 5. But that was Shane Waldron's offense (Canales was the quarterbacks coach on that team).
Best that can be said about Thomas is that for now, he's the tight end getting some looks in Carolina. It's a new offense (with a lot of new faces), and it's certainly possible the veteran starts and becomes a safety valve for Bryce Young.
But let's be careful before considering any Carolina tight end in the latter stages of a best-ball draft, even a TE-premium one. Neither they nor Canales have much history of doing much with the position.
--Andy Richardson