Kansas City Chiefs WR / RB / ?? De'Anthony Thomas has some big time goals for his rookie season.
He told NFL.com in this video that he wants to be the rookie of the year AND win a Super Bowl. I can get behind these goals!
"For my rookie season," DAT said, "[my goal is] to be the rookie of the year, lead my team in catching, rushing, lead my team in touchdowns, get to the Pro Bowl and also get to the Super Bowl."
This reminds me of Dwayne Bowe saying last year that he was going to lead the league in receptions. Instead Bowe had one of the smallest statistical outputs of his career. We know DAT won't be leading the team in catching or rushing. That will probably end up being Jamaal Charles and maybe Dwayne Bowe.
I predict that DAT, who said he was a "player nobody's every seen stepping on the football field", will make the biggest impact his first season on special teams as a return man. If he wins that job which is certainly no guarantee.
Right now, I don't know how the Chiefs are going to regularly get him on the field to make a big impact offensively. Is he going to take snaps away from Junior Hemingway at the slot? Do you use him to give Jamaal Charles a breather? There are a lot more variables to consider on the offensive side of the ball. But with punt returns, there's less to learn -- remember, DAT missed OTAs, too -- and he can use his best asset which is his speed.
Who knows, though. As Danny Parkins told me on our segment on 610 Sports last week, the snap rotation in OTAs doesn't really matter. Training camp matters more. While DAT didn't get a chance to see many snaps with the first team offense during OTAs, maybe he can earn his shot in training camp.
Rookie of the year is a great goal to have but I don't think he will be on the field enough to be in the running for that by the end of the season.