Why Fantasy Football Owners Will Kick Themselves For Drafting Daniel Thomas

Daniel Thomas was drafted in the second round in the NFL draft this season to a team in need of a feature back with a solid offensive line.

Landing with the Dolphins instantly primed Thomas as a fantasy sleeper but, as they often do, things have changed drastically in the pre-season.

The former Kansas State product has been unimpressive in his transition to the professional game. He doesn't seem to be ready to contribute in the way the team hoped he would ahead of the coming season.

Thomas is failing to be the physical complement to Reggie Bush that they wanted him to be. He hasn't hit the hole hard throughout the preseason and isn't playing to his strengths.

Punishing defenders and gaining positive yardage is what the Dolphins were looking for from Thomas, as he would play a role that Thomas Jones perfected last year for the Kansas City Chiefs. Reggie Bush would then have been able to enter the game and take advantage of a worn down defense, in the way Jamaal Charles did last year.

Now Thomas appears to not even be involved in the offense in that way, as the team recently signed former Kansas City Chiefs star Larry Johnson.

Johnson is 31 and has been irrelevant for the past two seasons or more, but could easily bring to the Dolphins what they were expecting from Thomas. This would make Thomas expendable, not only to fantasy teams, but to the Dolphins!

Of course his roster spot will not be in question as he obviously has potential for the future, but he won't even be worth anything to the team as a goal line back, as both Johnson and Lousaka Polite could serve the team better in that facet of the game.

He is obviously a talented back but his rookie season may be a learning from the sidelines year, much like Shonn Greene had for his rookie season with the New York Jets. Thomas had 30 rushing touchdowns in two seasons in college, racking up 2850 yards with a 5.2 yard per carry average.

Physically all the tools and talent is there, but until he performs in practice and preseason he won't even be seen on the field in the regular season, never mind put up yards or points.

Thomas could mature later in the season and become a nice pickup off the waiver wire for the fantasy run in, but with Bush and Johnson in the backfield together he likely won't be worth adding to your team, even in the deeper fantasy leagues.

In just a few short weeks, Daniel Thomas has gone from fantasy sleeper to simply being a sleeper.