The Panthers spent the first two days of the draft getting faster. They spent the first of their six picks on Day 3 getting a lot bigger.
With the first pick of the fourth round, the Carolina Panthers have selected 6’4″, 259 pound tight end Ian Thomas of the Indiana Hoosiers. Thomas, who was only a full-time starter during his senior season, entered his final season in Bloomington with only three catches in his college career; he finished second among Big Ten tight ends with a 15 yards per catch average on his 25 catches, five of which resulted in touchdowns.
This pick appears to be less about what Thomas has done and more about what Thomas could do in the future – an athletic, twitchy prospect who will be able to learn from Greg Olsen after Olsen resigned through the 2020 season on Thursday. The 21-year old from Baltimore was referred to as a “sleeping giant” by scouts. While his blocking at Indiana was unpolished, he was a fluid, if inconsistent, route runner – both Thomas and fellow tight end Chris Manhertz are both in the mold of “raw prospect who could grow into a future contributor”, but many scouts view Thomas as having “superstar upside”.
Thomas had a tough upbringing, with both of his parents passing away before Thomas was ten years old, leaving Thomas and his eight siblings without a permanent home for much of his life before he attended a technology-based magnet school in Baltimore and excelled in multiple sports, including basketball, track and football.
“Coming from the inner-city, there’s so much stuff going on and it’s so easy to follow crowds,” Thomas told BaltimoreRavens.com’s Ryan Mink. “My brother never let us stray from the path. Just looking up to him, it made me really want to push forward and do something good with my life.”
