2014 NFL Draft: Former Clemson G, top draft prospect, Brandon Thomas tears ACL
Former Clemson Tigers guard Brandon Thomas was rising up NFL draft boards after a strong final season in college, a great week at the Senior Bowl and a standout performance at February’s combine that put him in position to be selected early on Day 2.
However, in an absolutely sad turn of events, Thomas tore his ACL while working out and now his draft status is in flux as teams will have to evaluate how much of an impact he’ll be able to make in 2014, if at all.
G Brandon Thomas (Clemson), who is rated as one of the top interior OLs for this year's draft, suffered a torn ACL last week, per source.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) April 7, 2014
He likely will drop into Day 3 of the draft where teams will be willing to gamble a little bit more, especially if a team has multiple mid-round draft picks like we saw last year when the San Francisco 49ers drafted Marcus Lattimore and Tank Carradine despite their injuries.
The Bleacher Report’s NFL draft expert Matt Miller is less optimistic than I as he thinks it’s possible Thomas won’t hear his name called at all during next month’s draft.
Terrible news about Brandon Thomas tearing his ACL. Could go from Day 2 pick to undrafted.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) April 7, 2014
Some team will give him a shot–whether in the draft or as a free agent–and stash him on the injured reserve as a rookie and view him as a “bonus” 2015 draft pick.