Why Brandon Thomas Is the San Francisco 49ers' Most Overlooked 2015 Starter

If you look around the internet at mock drafts for the San Francisco 49ers, you’ll note a couple of patterns.

Plenty of draft experts have them adding to their stable of receivers, bolstering the defensive line or adding a top-flight cornerback.  All of these make varying amounts of sense and can logically be followed to scenarios where the 49ers would use the 15th pick on such a player, even if I think the need at cornerback is slightly overstated.

There is one pattern, however, that leaves me a bit confused—picking an offensive guard in the first round.  NFL.com’s Charles Davis has the 49ers taking La’el Collins, stating that he could “easily replace Mike Iupati at guard.” 

The Niners Nation community mock draft ended up taking Collins as well, as did Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski.  Fox Sport’s Peter Schrager has them going with Miami’s Ereck Flowers, DraftAce has them taking Stanford’s Andrus Peat, and CSNPhilly.com’s Jared Sherman has them taking Iowa’s Brandon Scherff.  Replacing Mike Iupati seems to be a high priority for many draft experts.

This, however, ignores the fact that the 49ers drafted Mike Iupati’s replacement last season.  Iupati’s contract, expiring at the end of 2014, wasn’t exactly a surprise, so the 49ers addressed the position with their third-round pick. 

Brandon Thomas, the massive guard from Clemson, is currently penciled in as the starter at left guard, and while there’s no guarantee he’ll have success from day one, he’s easily the most overlooked starter on the team for 2015.

Let’s start with the downside first. 

Thomas fell to the third round last season because he tore his ACL in predraft workouts.  He’s part of Trent Baalke’s recent trend of drafting injured players and stashing them for a season or two.  This strategy has yet to pay big dividends, with Marcus Lattimore retiring without ever seeing the field and Tank Carradine so far underwhelming. 

So far, none of the players taken with injury concerns under this program have turned out to pay big dividends for the 49ers.

That being said, it’s been a full year since Thomas’ ACL tear, which is more than enough time for him to get fully healthy.  It was a clean tear, unlike the massive damage that had been done to Lattimore’s knee or even the nasty knee injury NaVorro Bowman suffered in the NFC Championship Game two years ago.

Thomas is reportedly fully "ready to go" in the offseason program, according to Baalke, per Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group (via The Press Democrat's Grant Cohn).

A fully healthy Thomas isn’t a third-round quality player. 

Rotoworld had Thomas as a “first-round player on game tape,” calling him a “potential first-round sleeper” who was one of their “favorite O-line prospects to watch”. 

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said he would be an “immediate interior OL starter”, while NFL Media draft analyst Mike Mayock had him as the draft’s third-best guard, behind Daniel Yankey and Xavier Su’a-Filo.  MMQB’s Greg Bedard compared him to Brian Waters, the six-time Pro Bowl guard for the Kansas City Chiefs.  This is high praise!

Thomas isn’t the same kind of bruising run-blocker Iupati was.  Instead, he succeeds by finding good angles and using stellar positioning to block out defenders, rather than simply flattening them and moving on.  He’s a bit more athletic overall than Iupati; he’s very light on his feet for a 320-pounder.  He can get out to the second level without too many issues, paving the way for the backs behind him. 

He certainly is comfortable working in space; he served as Clemson’s left tackle in his junior and senior seasons.  This projects well to his ability to pull or otherwise maneuver around, rather than just being an iron block in the middle of the line.  Mobility for guards is an underrated trait, and Thomas has it in spades.

As a pass protector, Thomas is light-years ahead of Iupati. 

He handled last year’s No. 1 pick, Jadeveon Clowney, in their matchup in his senior season.  He doesn’t get beaten by pure speed; opposing rushers are going have to bring a move to the table to get around Thomas.  Pure power won’t do it, either—Thomas simply absorbs them, getting set quickly, using his powerful hands to steer rushers away and his strong knees to absorb the pressure. 

With help on both sides as a guard, rather than out on an island as a tackle, he should be even better.  Sometimes, as a tackle, he would get too isolated and let rushers come back with an inside move to get at the quarterback.  That’s not as big of an issue in the center of a line.

Thomas is a smart player, as well.  A lot of NFL-bound college linemen, especially those taken in the middle rounds, seem satisfied to use their overwhelming strength and speed advantages to dominate lesser college players, but Thomas isn’t that sort of player. 

His execution is top-notch, other than occasional pad-level issues, and he has excellent awareness as well.  He is almost always in the correct position to make a play, rather than relying simply on his athleticism to win battles.  That’s a point in his favor.

Is Thomas guaranteed to be a stud from day one in the NFL?  No, of course not.  He’ll be someone to watch closely during the offseason workout period, just to see how his knee holds up.  There’s also always the concern of a player with no NFL experience coming in and taking over a starting role.

However, the sheer number of people suggesting the 49ers use a first-round pick on the position seems to entirely ignore Thomas’ potential.  It seems people are writing him off as a failed pick before he even has a chance to compete for the starting role, which seems shortsighted.

Yes, the 49ers have a long-term need at the position with Alex Boone’s contract set to expire at the end of this season.  Yes, the 49ers could use competition at the position, considering Thomas’ complete lack of NFL experience. 

These are great reasons to draft an interior offensive lineman in the mid- to late rounds, not one to go for a player in Round 1.  By all means, the 49ers should look for a player such as Alabama’s Arie Kouandjio or Louisville’s John Miller on Day 2 in order to bolster their offensive line corps and produce a potential replacement for Boone should he leave.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

However, using a first- or second-round pick on a guard, with Thomas already in the fold, is a waste of resources.  Thomas has the potential to be a decade-long starter at the position.  He was drafted with the knowledge that Iupati was leaving after this season, barring a massive change in how the franchise values interior linemen. 

Drafting a lineman in Round 1 this year invalidates the strategy from last year.  The only way it would make sense, rather than drafting a player at a position of greater need, is if the franchise believes that Thomas will not fully recover from his ACL tear.

With Thomas already participating in the offseason activities—you can see him several times in this clip the 49ers released, notably showing off his jumping prowess about 40 seconds in—that doesn’t seem to be the case.

While you can never be sure who the breakout player of a season will be—last year, I pegged Corey Lemonier, which, well, didn’t happen—Thomas has a great case to step into the lineup immediately and improve pass protection over a multiple-time Pro Bowler.  That makes him the most underrated starter the 49ers have in 2015.

Bryan Knowles is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.