The Denver Broncos have gotten some great production on special teams out of Shamarko Thomas, especially against the Arizona Cardinals.
Prior to the start of the 2018 season, the safety position for the Denver Broncos appeared to be one of the strongest, deepest position groups on the team. As is often the unfortunate case in the NFL, however, the team suffered some significant losses due to injury.
The first major loss for the Broncos’ safety unit was special teams ace Jamal Carter, who also figured to have a bigger role with the defense.
The Broncos have also not yet gotten to see Su’a Cravens in regular season action after acquiring him via trade this offseason. He was placed on injured reserve to start the year but is expected to be back for the team’s week nine matchup against the Houston Texans.
In the meantime, Dymonte Thomas has missed time with an injury, and Darian Stewart is not practicing on a Wednesday ahead of the Chiefs’ game due to a stinger.
What seemed like an area that would not need any sort of touching up or addressing at any point this season has now become a major area of opportunity for veteran Shamarko Thomas, a young player who has been in the league for a few years and is still finding his way.
The ultra-athletic Thomas came into the league out of Syracuse with pretty high expectations given his freakish pre-draft workouts in which he posted a 4.42-second 40-yard dash, 28 bench press reps, and a 40.5-inch vertical jump.
Those numbers put Thomas in the highest percentile pound-for-pound among NFL athletes, but it doesn’t matter how good of an athlete you are if you can’t play well consistently.
Thomas has done a good job of carving himself a role on special teams in the league, which is the main reason the Broncos signed him in the first place after the Jamal Carter injury.
Thomas had a coming out party of sorts last Thursday night against the Arizona Cardinals in which he showed his abilities covering kickoffs, something that might soon become a lost art in the NFL.
With all of the injuries piling up at safety, Thomas’ presence on special teams and even at times defensively has been a nice fallback for the Broncos. He’s etched himself a spot on the roster for the remainder of the season if he can keep flying down the field and making plays like he did in Arizona.