Lawrence Dikarri Thomas (born April 16, 1993) 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 with ...

fullback. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Early years

Thomas was selected and participated in the 2011 Under Armour All-America Game in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. Thomas was named high school finalist for the 2010 Butkus Award. Thomas was ranked 3rd among the country's top defensive ends by 247Sports.com and was ranked 7th defensive end prospect by Scout.com.

Professional career

New York Jets

On April 30, 2016, Thomas signed with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. He was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury on September 29, 2016. He finished his rookie season with four tackles in three games played. On September 2, 2017, Thomas was waived by the Jets and was later re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 16, 2017. Upon being added to the active roster, Thomas changed his jersey number to 44 to be eligible to play fullback. On September 8, 2018, Thomas was waived by the Jets.

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bioNew York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Lawrence Living people 1993 births Players of American football from Detroit American football defensive ends Michigan State Spartans football players New York Jets players Renaissance High School alumni