Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - In the days leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, WGR will provide profiles on some players that could be a good fit for the Buffalo Bills at positions of need.
As we continue to focus on cornerbacks, this profile will feature Azareye'h Thomas from Florida State University.
Thomas emerged as one of the Seminoles’ leaders last season, as evidenced by him winning the Bobby Bowden Leadership Award.
A native of Niceville, Florida, Thomas played three years in Tallahassee. He was a full-time starter for the first time last season, and ended up second on the team in tackles. Thomas also had one interception, four pass breakups, and a tackle for loss.
Thomas led Florida State in snaps on defense, and had 200 more snaps than the second-highest total on the team. Thomas earned honors as an Honorable Mention All-ACC member.
The 6-foot-2, 198-pounder was a four-star prospect coming out of high school, and was the Defensive Player Of The Year in Northwest Florida in his junior season. Thomas was a premier long jumper in high school as well.
He played in 34 games for Florida State and made 12 starts. Thomas finished with two interceptions, 95 tackles, nine tackles for a loss and he broke up 15 passes.
He also had a great week at the Senior Bowl, impressing scouts in attendance.
Here is what Joe Marino from the “Locked on Bills” and “Locked on NFL Scouting” podcasts has to say about Thomas:
Positives:
Upside is the name of the game with him. He's young, he's athletic, and he is ascending.
His best ability is press man coverage, where he's got really firm hands that create jams and can erase receivers very quickly. He can take them off the menu, because they can't get into the route stem. And if they're early in the progression for the quarterback, that quarterback is going to move their eyes off that target very quickly.
I love the press man coverage ability he brings to the table. He could really choke routes out early, and, of course, he's got really good length, over 32-inch arms. I think there's a big-time physical component. He's a bigger corner that plays big, which I like a ton.
I don't think the ball skills are going to be really impressive.
If you just look at the numbers, his ball production numbers aren't going to stand out to you. But I think that's common for a lot of college corners, where you know you're playing a lot of press man coverage that's not going to lend itself to a lot of opportunities to really drive on the football.
But I saw a comfort and an ability to leverage at the catch point that I think will translate to better ball production in the NFL.
Concerns:
I think he's still developing instinctively. I think the route recognition is something that is hit or miss, and it's interesting to contrast him to University of Texas corner Jahdae Barron. I talk about Barron not having length and that decreases his margin for error, but that's OK because he's very instinctive.
The opposite is true for Thomas, where he needs that length and that athleticism, because I don't think that instinctively he's quite there in addition to being high hipped. He's a guy that when you ask him to flip his hips and turn, and run he's high hipped.
That's just going to take a little bit longer for him to be able to plant and drive and stay in phase when he has to carry routes down the field.
WGR will provide full coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft during all seven rounds, starting Thursday, April 24 and continuing through Saturday, April 26.
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