At first glance, Oklahoma pass rusher R Mason Thomas seemed a curious fit for the Kansas City Chiefs when he was selected with the 40th pick in last month’s NFL Draft.
Weighing in at only 241 pounds, Thomas is much lighter than the edge rushers long coveted by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Speaking on Friday at the opening of Kansas City’s rookie minicamp, Thomas expressed confidence that his game would translate to the next level.
“It’s not like college,” Thomas noted, “but wherever the defense
wants you to play, at the end of the day it’s football. So, it’s going to be a majority of the same.”
He has no illusion about the challenge in front of him as he takes on NFL offensive linemen.
“I’ve just got to go do it,” he remarked. “The tackles are bigger. They’re more technical — they’re pros. But at the end of the day, I still have to go stick my nose in their chest.”
Thomas takes motivation from another light pass rusher who predated him at Oklahoma: Nik Bonitto of the Denver Broncos. Bonitto has totaled 37 sacks over his first four seasons while maintaining a listed playing weight of 240 pounds.
“He definitely was a big influence,” Thomas said of Bonitto. “The Lord led me to Oklahoma, but he was also part of the reason I went too. I ask him all the time about different things he looks at— what he does to help his pass rush [and] what he focuses on. He’s not a big guy, so we don’t necessarily have to look at the power, but then he shows us how you use power between that, too. So, a lot of things.”
Although their paths missed at Oklahoma, Thomas and Bonitto know each other through their college connection and both being natives of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“Yeah, he comes back,” Thomas shared. “Last year, he came back for the Missouri game — whenever it lines up on his bye week. He was down in South Florida one time when I was down there. Our schedules don’t align sometimes, but I’ve seen him.”
As his career begins in Kansas City, Thomas wants Spagnuolo to know that he is ready for whatever plan the coach has — whether that has him as a standing pass rusher or along the defensive line with his hands in the dirt.
“Wherever he wants me to line up, I’ll line up,” he declared. “I don’t really have a preference between the two. Both [options] are kind of the same if you’re low enough. If I tend to fall, I do put my hand down like you’re in a three-point. So, you’re low in both, and I don’t really have a preference.
Ahead of his first practice with his new team, Thomas took a question on choosing No. 34 — seemingly an odd look for a pass rusher. Thomas made the selection because his number from Oklahoma is already taken by his new Kansas City teammate, linebacker Nick Bolton.
Thomas is not sure that his new number will stick.
“32 was taken,” he lamented. “Still open for numbers, though.”
One thing that will now be familiar again to Thomas is the mascot “Chiefs.” Before going to Oklahoma, he starred for the Cardinal Gibbons High School Chiefs in Fort Lauderdale.
“It’s actually crazy,” Thomas said. “When I got drafted, the guys from Cardinal Gibbons — the Chiefs — they were chanting, ‘Once a Chief, always a Chief.’ So that was pretty cool.”
