Raiders' Drake Thomas Was Another Under-the-Radar UDFA
The Las Vegas Raiders seem to have a knack for finding diamonds in the rough regarding undrafted free agents.
One of the most promising the club added this offseason was former North Carolina State linebacker Drake Thomas.
Thomas posted 293 tackles, 46 for losses, 19 sacks, 13 passes defensed, and four interceptions in his 47 games over his four seasons with the Wolfpack.
"[Thomas] loves football," Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels said at his press conference on Tuesday ahead of his team's minicamp practice. "He works hard. And again, if you come into the league in that capacity, which he did, and we have, like I said, we have a number of players -- half of our roster is undrafted. So those players understand: 'I've got to work my butt off; I've got to really love every aspect of the game so I can try to improve.' Every rep he takes is a very intentional rep for him, whether it's in an individual period, or a group period, or a team period. He's a good communicator and learns quickly. He really studies hard from one day to the next, so he's prepared the next day.
"And he's a good teammate. You can tell the guys like him. So look, everybody, we always tell them they're all the same once they're Raiders. And so it's it's not really about how you got here; it's what you do here. And so Drake's really embraced that, along with many of the other guys we have in that capacity. But there's a lot to like about him. He's a good football player. Period. You know what I mean? If you look at how tall he is and all the rest of it, you can say a lot about a lot of guys in that capacity, but at the end of the day, when the ball's snapped, he does a good job of making plays and doing his job."
OTA Offseason workouts: June 12-15
Mandatory Minicamp: June 6-8
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