Behind the Steel Curtain
Thomas has entered the conversation for the Steelers’ first round pick as a draft board riser.
Approaching the 2025 NFL Draft, we’ll be scouting as many of the top prospects that the Pittsburgh Steelers could have their eye on anywhere from Rounds 1 through 7. We’ll break down the prospects themselves, strengths and weaknesses, projected draft capital and their fit with the Steelers.
The Steelers might have a big need at cornerback this offseason with Donte Jackson set to hit free agency. Could Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas be the Steelers’ next CB2?
I’ll start off this draft profile with a stat I found:
On one hand, that shows just how effective Thomas was in coverage in 2024. He was a lockdown corner, and teams respected his talents and avoided him like the plague in the passing game.
That also meant it took a lot of games watched to piece together enough clips to fill this article — I’ve supplemented it with some Senior Bowl reps as the broadcast angle wasn’t focusing on Thomas much in 2024.
Thomas is a big, smothering press-man corner who is a shockingly fluid athlete. Speed isn’t his calling card, but he can flip his hips and adjust to routes without losing much momentum (No. 8 in all clips; the bottom of the screen here).
His body control and calmness when the ball is in the air also stand out (top of the screen).
And his physicality in man coverage helps him keep reps close against smaller, faster receivers.
(Lined up at the bottom of the screen here).
Here, you can see his jam nullify any chance of a pass quickly going to his side of the field (top of the screen).
Still, there were a few plays where that physicality went a tad too far. Thomas didn’t have a penalty problem at the college level, but he’ll have to clean up some things in the NFL (lined up at the bottom of the screen).
In zone, there were a few instances where Thomas missed a wheel route leaking out on his side of the field in cover 3 or 4, but largely he showed good awareness and drive on the ball. His footwork isn’t the fastest, but zone is by no means a weakness in his game (left side of the screen below).
Where there are major concerns in Thomas’ game is his run support. His effort is questionable, and he routinely takes horrible angles on the football. He also consistently made the receiver blocking him look like the second coming of Hines Ward (top of the screen here).
The good news is that Thomas noticeably improved as the year went on. There were still missed tackles, but he was swooping in and making plays more regularly. I think...
