As the San Francisco 49ers prepare to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday, rookie defensive tackle Solomon Thomas is preparing for his NFL debut. On Thursday, he chatted with PFT Live’s Mike Florio about preparing for his first preseason game, who he las learned the most from, and his annoyance with the rule preventing him from practicing with the team. You can watch the full video above (or here).
They actually go into a little bit nitty gritty technical discussion that I enjoyed. Florio asked him about how many moves he wanted to learn. He said that rather than learning a bunch of moves, it makes more sense to master two moves, and then have a counter you can use. He said that in college, his go-to move was a double-in swipe on the guard.
He said he is learning a lot from Elvis Dumervil and all the vets, but of course the notable training this offseason came with DeMarcus Ware. Thomas said he learned some pass rush technique tips, but the biggest thing he learned from Ware was practice habits. Considering he wasn’t able to practice during his initial time with Ware, that’s a valuable lesson to learn.
Thomas will make his debut on Friday, and he seems to be concerned with not letting the situation get too big for him. He is focused on making sure he has everything down from a mental standpoint, and avoids the potential freakouts that come with taking his game to a new level.
Thomas has seemingly done everything right within his power to prepare for the upcoming season. We say it with every young player, but I am eager to see how he looks in his first NFL game facing opposing competition for the first time. Tank Carradine has been getting first team work, so he likely will be out there to start, but with the 49ers planning extensive rotations this year, maybe we see Thomas get some first team work.