Logan had to wait until day three of the NFL Draft to hear his name called, but was selected with the Arizona Cardinal's 20th pick in the 4th round (120th overall). Arizona head coach, and Hokie, Bruce Arians. Arians visited Blacksburg on April 2nd to work out Thomas before the draft.
Great to have Bruce Arians, head coach of the Cardinals and former #Hokies QB on campus to work out @LThomas_3 pic.twitter.com/Ka7PV8eKjj— VT Football (@VT_Football) April 2, 2014
When asked about this year's quarterbacks, Arians told azcentral sports before the draft, "I don't know how many of them have a 'wow factor,' but there are some really, really good ones, guys who are going to play in the league for a long time. I don't see an Andrew Luck, a Ben Roethlisberger or a Peyton Manning but I do see some guys who are very, very capable."
Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, and Ryan Lindley are the three QBs on Arizona's roster right now. It's likely the experienced Palmer is entrenched as Arizona's 2014 starter, which will allow Thomas to learn Arians' system and gain valuable reps in practice without an immediate pressure to play.
Comments
C'mon Joe, this was already posted by 2HokiesIn1. Remember,
;)
Is there a way to merge the two posts? The other one came first and has the fun comments, but this one is the curated post with more information...
Well played.
In a perfect world I would have had a post ready to go and beaten 2HokiesIn1 to the punch. However, I've been busy coding website updates all day. When there's breaking news, there's always going to be a little bit of overlap because usually someone will post a blurb, link, or embed a tweet as a forum topic, then French or I will post a more curated article on the front-page. I hate that the conversation becomes segmented, but I don't have a fix for it right now.
It's okay, joe. You'll get 'em next time.
I just happened to check the Draft Tracker right after his pick then immediately checked TKP. I must have refreshed for a couple minutes before realizing that you hadn't posted it yet.
I can't wait to see how he develops. Many of his detractors can't believe some of the names he beat out in the draft.
I'm a bit surprised some others didn't go before him, honestly.
The best part was the one guy who was trying to talk up the SEC, but then realized all the awesome SEC QBs he was trying to show off.... haven't been drafted yet.
The NFL Network dudes are amazed those SEC QBs are still on the board, muwahaha!
It was great, "And no surprise here, the best conference in the country.... has these quarterbacks still waiting to be drafted." Absolutely hilarious.
Is there a link to that video?
This and the Fuller High Five have got to be my favorite VT Football Player related pictures/gifs to be posted thus far.
Congrats to LT! He deserves it and I hope he sees the field this season!
Looks like I get to use this again. HOW DO YA LIKE THAT HATERZ!
Wait a sec-there's THAT many QBs on the Zona Card's roster!?!? Um, should we be worried? I feel a little nervous about Thomas' place among them.
At worst case he'd probably be practice squaded. Though honestly, he probably could beat out Lindley for 3rd string, Lindley has been far from impressive in his NFL appearances: 52% completion, 0 TDs, 7 Ints, 3 fumbles, 752 yards over 5 games
Wow. That actually is kind of impressive though. Just not in a good way.
Though to be slightly fair, that was all 2012, his rookie year, and he was starting those 5 games because Kevin Kolb was always broken, and John Skelton couldn't play worth anything. Though eventually he was replaced by now Browns 1st/2nd string (who knows) QB Brian Hoyer.
So that was the QB quality there that year...
As much as I want to see Thomas succeed in the NFL, the harsh truth is that historically, QB's drafted in the 4th round or later are unlikely to see significant playing time at any point in their career. Barring some sort of Maryland-ish injury bug, if Thomas ever has a shot at a starting job, it won't be for at least a couple years. He was going to have an uphill battle for playing time no matter where he went. The 'Zona Cards' are really an ideal landing spot for him. He needs a year or two of solid QB coaching to be able to play to his potential and he'll have that there.
What round was Tom Brady drafted in?
True but was Brady named #2 as soon as he came in or was he #3? Plus it didn't hurt that Bledsoe went down with injury.
Brady was also there a while before Bledsoe went down.
Tom Brady is an outlier among outliers. And I'm not saying Logan is doomed to be a career back up--as others have pointed out, historical trends are broken all the time and Logan definitely has the physical tools and work ethic to be one of those exceptions. I'm just trying to be realistic about the road he has to get there.
Historically Duke wins NCAA tournament games and 3 seeds don't lose to 14 seeds but we saw how that went down
also historically Duke football doesn't go to ACC Championships
Yeah, and historically, UVA's football team has been - wait... no, that one's about on par with tradition.
We need something to remain constant in this crazy world.
There is certainly a correlation between draft position and playing time. However I will say that it's rare that a QB with LT's upside has gone in mid-late rounds. I can't recall a QB with the potential to be a franchise QB going so late in the draft. Most guys drafted in the 4th or later have a much lower ceiling.
Yes, I completely agree. The main point I was trying to make is that it's a little early to be worrying about Arizona's QB depth chart, in my opinion. For the record, I do think LT will end up being a franchise QB somewhere before it's all said and done.
When that day comes, he deserves the largest of suck it haters.
This year was pretty crazy for QBs actually. Look at AJ McCarron, Tajh Boyd and others going so late. I mean Tom Savage went before them. I know he is better than what he played but not sure if he is that good.
Anyway, seemed like the position of QB across the league is fairly stable and for the most part there was not a pressing need to get new talent. Meaning that in this years draft I don't think the draft position/playing time correlation will be accurate. I think some late round QB's will end up getting significant playing time in the future.
Boooooooooooooooooooooooo
Edit: the boos are to Pete
Not a Cardinals fan, but it's great to see Hokies united in the NFL. Hope you get some field time in the regular season, Logan.
Called the team in the other Draft thread. Imma pat myself on the back for that one. Although I was generous in thinking they'd take him earlier.
Man some of the draft "experts" are pretty salty about LT going before those $EC quarterbacks - Murray, Mettenberger, and McCarron.
Minnesota took antone
Steelers took that douchebag ucla guy zumwalt. I'm kind of upset at this one
I felt the same way when I saw that
May he sit behind our man Worilds forever before being banished to the practice squad.
I actually like this pick, I think there is no team in the NFL that fits better with Zumwalt. He had Steeler written all over him.
Thats why Im upset. I vowed to hate him after that dirty hit vs LT3 but now he plays for the Steelers. He will likely see the 2deep by his second year and Im not sure I can cheer for him. Even if he crushes that loser, flacco
he plays like he did in college, and he'll be suspended by his second year.
does jeff king still play out there?
Yes he does, although I think he was injured some last season or didn't catch many passes. Ryan Williams is also still floating around out there, maybe he stays healthy and can finally crack that rotation.
I would think neither will be on the team by time Thomas gets a real chance to play.
I'm pretty sure Eddie Whitley is a Cardinal as well.
Isnt Jeff King still with the Cardinals? His roster spot could be under threat with the TE they just drafted.
For those wondering...
but...but... there was that one play where he made that one catch... /s
Smokescreen?:
/s
Larry Fitzgerald has to be happy to see him drafted.
Gayle to the Titans!
I'm glad to see the Cardinals coach say Logan will be a QB and not a TE I know some haters will be butt hurt over that but they will get over it. Iv had a massive man crush on LT3 since 10/08/2011 with so many ups and downs the kid has had over the years he really deserves this and I hope they coach him up good in Arizona and Logan starts throwing 50 yard Touchdowns to Fitzgerald very soon.
LT3 can run and throw , he just needs good receivers to catch the balls.
With Fitzgerald(who also put his stamp of approval on Thomas) and crew he'll have better receivers than he's had since Boykin, Coale & fam.
Watch out for Michael Floyd, too. He was their 1st round pick in 2012 who had a nice season playing across from Fitzgerald. Also Troy Niklas at TE and Andre Ellington (as much as I hate to say it) could be potent weapons long term for LT3.
Fitzgerald is a top 5 receiver in the NFL...
Calvin Johnson admits that Fitzgerald is better than he is.
They play defense out in Arizona; they just need a QB to take care of the ball for the time being.
Logan is a project for them, but should make the 3rd string on potential alone. I hope he takes over for Palmer after about 2 years.
I'm a huge fan of Logan Thomas to Arizona. I think a huge plus for LT is that he's the only QB that Bruce Arians' staff has drafted at Arizona. With Bruce Arians being an offensive minded head coach I'd imagine that LT will get plenty of chances as the pet project for him.
As well can't deny the common VT QB background. I'd imagine as an alum with great knowledge of offense he's paid some attention to VT football over LT's career and knows the situation of the previous offensive coaching staff as well as talent/experience that was around LT.
he's really familiar with LT and VT:
http://www.azcardinals.com/videos-photos/videos/Bruce-Arians-Steve-Keim-...
GO HOKIES!
Very interesting that Arians put out there that there isn't a competition over the backup QB spot only competition between LT and Ryan Lindley for the third spot.
Drew Stanton, current #2, is a free agent in 2016. Drew Stanton was with the Colts when Arians was there and then Arians signed the first year Arians became HC in Arizona so seems like Arians likes to keep him around at least to probably help teach the system. Hopefully Logan Thomas beats out Lindley for 3rd string this year and then battles Stanton for backup in 2015 during Stanton's contract year.
Right now it seems as if Carson Palmer would be a free agent in 2015 but I'd guess an extension would come sometime soon.
I think he's nipping the LT to start chatter in the bud, (if Carson goes down)
Smart move ... LT needs at least a year of learning the system and getting up to speed.
I think the #3 spot is his just from a PR standpoint of not cutting your 4th round pick.
It could all work out nicely for him!
Just realized that Tom Moore is on the Arizona staff as an offensive consultant and assistant head coach. He helped develop Peyton Manning with the Colts. So beyond LT's position coach he has 2 successful offensive minded coaches that have groomed great pro QBs (Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, and Peyton Manning).
BTW, it's kind of funny that the QB coach for the Cardinals was previously their TEs coach.
Here's hoping he does well in the NFL, and with the Cardinals. Wasn't Matt Leinart(sp?) a Cardinal at one point?
Yes. I want to say that was his first job.
I just say that because that would be the only thing that worries me about Arizona. It seems like they've gone through a QB change at lease once a year since just before Leinart got there, expecting him to be the "star" they needed and would build a team around.