Thomas Drafted Third OverallThomas Drafted Third Overall
Football

Thomas Drafted Third Overall

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PHILADELPHIA – With the third overall pick of the NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers selected Stanford junior defensive lineman Solomon Thomas.
 
Thomas is the highest defensive draft pick in program history.

He is the fifth first-round selection under Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw.
 

 
The Cardinal has had a first-round draft pick in each of the past three years -- offensive guard Joshua Garnett was the 28th overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in last year's draft, and offensive tackle Andrus Peat was the 13th overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2015.
 


Thomas spent several years in Australia in his youth, but his return to the United States allowed him to develop first into one of the top high school players in the country and then one of college football's top defensive linemen.
 
After sitting out his freshman season, Thomas was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention in 2015 (39 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks). He had four tackles, two for loss, and a sack in the Cardinal's win over Iowa in the Rose Bowl Game.
 

He kicked up his game as a junior in 2016, receiving multiple All-America honors and winning the Morris Trophy as the Pac-12 Conference's top defensive lineman. A native of Coppell, Texas, Thomas led Stanford and ranked in the top five in the Pac-12 in sacks (7.0) and tackles for loss (13.0). Thomas also led the Cardinal with 36 solo tackles, and tied for the team lead with 55 total tackles.
 

Thomas' Sun Bowl performance against North Carolina opened the eyes of many NFL scouts. Even his impressive stat line (seven tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss) failed to illustrate his dominance in Stanford's 25-23 victory. Appropriately, Thomas saved the game with a sack of Tar Heels quarterback Mitch Trubisky on a two-point conversion try with 25 seconds remaining.