Tavierre Thomas
Tavierre Thomas (born March 11, 1996) is an American football cornerback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ferris State.
![]() Thomas in 2019 | |||||||||||||||
No. 20 – Cleveland Browns | |||||||||||||||
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Position: | Special teamer Cornerback | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
Born: | Detroit, Michigan | March 11, 1996||||||||||||||
Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||
Weight: | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
High school: | Allen Academy (Detroit, Michigan) | ||||||||||||||
College: | Ferris State | ||||||||||||||
Undrafted: | 2018 | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics as of Week 4, 2020 | |||||||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
Early life and high school
Thomas was born and grew up in Detroit, Michigan and attended Detroit Allen Academy. As a senior, Thomas received recruiting interest from Iowa, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan but was not offered a scholarship by any Division I program due to a low ACT score despite graduating high school with a 3.8 GPA. Thomas ultimately decided to enroll at Ferris State University on an academic scholarship.[1]
College career
Thomas played four seasons with the Ferris State Bulldogs, initially joining the team as a walk-on. Although he initially intended to redshirt his freshman season and then transfer to a Division I program after meeting academic standards, but Thomas eventually opted to play the final five games of the season after an injury to one of the team's starting defensive backs.[1] Thomas was named one of the Bulldogs' starting cornerbacks going into his sophomore year and recorded 48 tackles with three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.[2] In his junior season, he intercepted a career-high six passes with 15 passes defensed in 15 starts was named first team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) and first team Division II All-America, as well as third team Little All-America by the Associated Press. As a senior, Thomas was again named first team all-GLIAC and Division II All-America as well as the conference Defensive Back of the Year after recording 60 tackles, four interceptions and had a career-high 18 passes defensed.[3] Thomas finished his collegiate career with 175 total tackles, 14 interceptions and 35 passes defensed.[4]
Professional career
Arizona Cardinals
Thomas was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent on April 30, 2018 and waived by the team on September 1.[5][6]
Cleveland Browns
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On September 2, 2018, Thomas was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns.[4][7] Thomas made his NFL debut on September 9, 2018 during the Browns season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.[8] During the Browns' Week 7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Thomas downed a punt by Britton Colquitt inside the Buccaneers one-yard line, setting up a safety by Browns defensive tackle Trevon Coley.[9] As a rookie Thomas played in 13 games, mostly on special teams, and tied for the team lead with seven special teams tackles (eight overall).[10] Thomas played in all 16 of the Browns' games in 2019 with nine tackles and a fumble recovery and also returned ten kickoffs for 204 yards.[11] He blocked a field goal attempt against the San Francisco 49ers on October 7, 2019.[12]
In Week 1 of the 2020 season against the Baltimore Ravens, Thomas recorded his first career sack on Lamar Jackson during the 38–6 loss.[13]
References
- Birkett, Dave (March 22, 2018). "Ferris State CB Tavierre Thomas on NFL radars as draft approaches". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- Spezia, Mark (November 30, 2017). "Tavierre Thomas goes from walk-on to All-American at Ferris State". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- Root, Jess (June 16, 2018). "Cardinals undrafted rookie profile: CB Tavierre Thomas". Cards Wire. USA Today. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- "Tavierre Thomas". ClevelandBrowns.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
- Urban, Darren (April 30, 2018). "Cardinals Bring In 24 Undrafted Rookies". AZCardinals.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
- Urban, Darren (September 1, 2018). "Cardinals Make Cuts To Reach 53-Man Roster". AZCardinals.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
- Gribble, Andrew (September 2, 2018). "Browns claim 5 players in latest moves to reshaped 53-man roster". ClevelandBrowns.com.
- "Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns - September 9th, 2018-Snap counts". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
- Watkins, Jimmy (October 21, 2018). "9 Key Moments: Browns squander opportunities, can't overcome mistakes against Buccaneers". ClevelandBrowns.com. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- Pluto, Terry (February 26, 2019). "Cleveland Browns: Talkin' Kareem Hunt, special teams". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
- Greetham, Fred (July 20, 2020). "Biggest Position Battles Of Training Camp: Cornerback Depth". 247Sports.com. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
- Shuck, Barry (October 8, 2019). "Brownies and Frownies: 49ers pummel Cleveland 31-3". DawgsByNature.com. SB Nation. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
- "Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens - September 13th, 2020". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 18, 2020.