Brandon Thomas (born February 18, 1991) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

and current offensive graduate assistant for the Clemson Tigers. He was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Clemson.

High school career

Thomas attended

Paul M. Dorman High School Paul M. Dorman High School is a high school located in Roebuck, South Carolina, United States. The school is part of Spartanburg County School District Six. It consists of a main campus for 10th-12th graders and a separate campus for 9th graders ...

in Roebuck, South Carolina. As a four-star recruit by the ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'' rating service, he was rated as the 14th best offensive tackle prospect in his class.

College career

Thomas attended

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

from 2009 to 2013. He saw a lot of playing time at both guard and tackle during his career, and became the starting left tackle for the Tigers in 2012, where he started 26 games over his last two seasons. He was named a first-team All-

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

as a junior, and was a second-team All-ACC selection as a senior.

Professional career

On December 16, 2013, it was announced that Thomas had accepted his invitation to play in the

2014 Senior Bowl The 2014 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game featured players from the 2013 college football season, and prospects for the 2014 Draft of the professional National Football League (NFL). The game concluded the post-seas ...

. On January 25, 2014, he played in the Reese's Senior Bowl, asapart of Atlanta Falcons' head coach Mike Smith's North team that lost 20-10 to the South. Thomas was one of 50 collegiate offensive linemen to attend the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. He performed all of the combine drills and ran the ninth fastest 40-yard dash among all offensive linemen and had the fifth best vertical jump. On March 6, 2014, Thomas attended Clemson's pro day, along with

Tajh Boyd Tajh Khiry Boyd (born September 25, 1990) is an American football coach and former quarterback who currently is an offensive assistant at Clemson. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college fo ...

Martavis Bryant Martavis Alexander Bryant (born December 20, 1991) is an American gridiron football wide receiver for the Vegas Vipers of the XFL. He played college football at Clemson, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the ...

, Sammy Watkins, Tyler Shatley, Chandler Catanzaro,

Bashaud Breeland Bashaud Breeland (born January 30, 1992) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played college football at Clemson, and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He also played for th ...

, and eight others. He opted to perform positional drills and bested his combine numbers in the broad jump (8'3"), short shuttle (4.75s), and three-cone drill (7.83s). On April 3, 2014, Thomas suffered a torn ACL while performing a non-contact drill at a private workout he was attending with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Thomas was projected by NFL draft experts and scouts to be a third to fifth round pick. He was ranked the tenth best offensive guard prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

San Francisco 49ers

The

selected Thomas in the third round (100th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was the eighth offensive guard and 22nd offensive linemen selected in 2014.

2014

On May 31, 2014, 49ers signed Thomas to a four-year, $2.72 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $506,016. Thomas spent the entire 2014 season on the reserve/non-football injury list due to the ACL injury suffered before the draft.

2015

Throughout training camp, Thomas competed against

Ian Silberman Ian Silberman (born October 10, 1992) is a former American football guard. A 2009 ''USA Today'' High School All-American out of Fleming Island High School, Silberman had enrolled at Florida, where he appeared in 20 games with seven starts, befo ...

, Joe Looney, Andrew Tiller, and Jordan Devey for the job as the starting left guard, left vacant by the departure of

Mike Iupati Michael Iupati ( ; born May 12, 1987) is a Samoan-American former American football guard who played for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). A native of American Samoa, Iupati went to high school in southern California, played col ...

to the Arizona Cardinals in

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

. Head coach

Jim Tomsula James Andrew Tomsula (born April 14, 1968) is an American football coach and head coach of the Rhein Fire of the European League of Football. Serving as a defensive coach throughout his career, Tomsula has also been the head coach for the Rhein F ...

named him the backup right guard to Devey to start the regular season. He was inactive for all 16 games in 2015.

Detroit Lions

On August 29, 2016, the 49ers traded Thomas to the Detroit Lions in exchange for wide receiver

Jeremy Kerley Jeremy Dashon Kerley (born November 8, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver and return specialist. He played college football at TCU and was drafted by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft and has also had s ...

. On September 3, 2016, he was waived by the Lions and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Lions on January 9, 2017. On September 3, 2017, Thomas was waived by the Lions. He was signed to the practice squad on October 3, 2017. He was released on October 14, 2017.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On October 23, 2017, Thomas was signed to the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

' practice squad. He was released on November 23, 2017, but was re-signed four days later. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Jaguars on January 22, 2018. On July 31, 2018, Thomas was waived/injured by the Jaguars and was placed on injured reserve. He was released on August 4, 2018. He was re-signed to the practice squad on October 16, 2018. He was promoted to the active roster on December 22, 2018. On December 10, 2019, Thomas was placed on injured reserve.

Coaching career

In 2022, Thomas began his coaching career when he joined the staff at his alma mater, Clemson, as an offensive graduate assistant.

Personal life

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioDetroit Lions bioClemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Brandon 1991 births Living people American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Clemson Tigers football players Detroit Lions players Jacksonville Jaguars players Players of American football from South Carolina San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Spartanburg, South Carolina