For all of the grief that Pittsburgh Steelers nose tackle Steve McLendon has received, he is by far a more superior player than San Diego Chargers unrestricted free agent Cam Thomas is.
Thomas, who is scheduled to meet with the Steelers on Friday, has played well at times during his short NFL career, but found himself on the back end of a rotation behind Sean Lissemore last season.
I quickly sped through a few Chargers games over the course of the last 45 minutes and it’s clear that Thomas is inconsistent with his pad level, hand placement and ability to anchor in the middle. He’s a big boy, but that’s about it. It’s no wonder why the Chargers are letting him walk.
Runs stats is certainly no way to judge a player, but you might like to know that the Chargers allowed 4.82 yards per carry in 2013 on 121 running plays scored as going up the middle. That ranked them 26th overall in the league for runs in that direction.
Just to jog your memory, the Steelers defense allowed 2.88 yards per carry in 2013 on 109 running plays scored as going up the middle and that ranked them second in the league for that direction.
I have broken down the play of McLendon in 2013 in a few different post since the 2013 season and he was not the cause of the Steelers poor play against the run.
Should the Steelers ultimately sign Thomas on Friday, I sure hope they do so with the intentions of him being McLendon’s backup, because he’s certainly not an upgrade over the Troy product.
