Bigger, stronger, faster Cameron Thomas eager to step up and deliver for Arizona Cardinals

J.J. Watt might have retired, but the one season Cameron Thomas spent with the former three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year left a career full of memories for the Arizona Cardinals’ second-year pass rusher.

“To be able to just watch and see how a veteran that’s done it at such a high level, to see how he does it is something I was very thankful to have from Year 1,” Thomas said earlier this week at the start of the Cardinals’ first round of voluntary offseason workouts.

Aside from picking up tips from Watt on everything from learning how to practice better, how to train properly and how to get the best leverage against a blocker, Thomas also received some good advice from Watt.

“Yeah, something he taught me was to be myself,” Thomas, a third-round pick a year ago out of San Diego State, said, “You get into the league and kind of have all these people trying to put expectations on you, kind of trying to mold you into the type of player that they think you are.

“But at the end of the day, it’s you out there playing football so yeah, I’d definitely say I learned how to be myself through him and that’s something I’m definitely going to keep.”

The Cardinals wrapped up four days of practices and meetings on Thursday and Thomas already looks like a different player than he was a year ago at this time.

“Go check how big he is right now,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “Yeah, he looks bigger. He’s definitely bigger than the first time I met him. We had him on a Top 30 (pre-draft visit) in Philly, but he looks good. He’s doing good.

”I like where he’s at. He’s a big, powerful guy. He’s done some good things on the grass with movement skills and different things like that.”

Heading into his second NFL season and doing so with almost a completely new coaching staff, Thomas decided to add some weight and chisel his body to become a more impactful edge presence at outside linebacker, where he had three sacks as a rookie despite only playing 20 percent of the Cardinals’ defensive snaps.

“After going through my rookie year, I know what to expect … and this year with the time we had off, I took advantage of it,” he said. “I got my weight up, my body fat down. I think I got faster, and I think I got stronger, so I’m really excited to see what I can do this year.”

The 6-foot-4 Thomas initially reported to the team weighing 272 pounds, which the previous coaching staff thought was too heavy. So, he dropped his weight down to 255. He was effective, but this offseason thought his career would be better served by getting bigger and stronger.

“I kind of got into a groove with things and got the weight back up, but I don’t feel like a lost an ounce of speed and I gained a lot of strength from it,” he said, adding he’s back in the 270-pound range.

Thomas is one of at least seven players who are competing for starting spots at the two outside linebacker positions. Others in the mix include Myjai Sanders, who was also a third-round pick a year ago, veteran Dennis Gardeck, rookie BJ Ojulari, Arizona’s second-round pick out of LSU, and Zaven Collins, who spent most of his first two seasons at inside linebacker.

Getting back on the practice field, even though contact is prohibited, has been a thrill for Thomas.

“With the helmets on, you could kind of see the role in leadership kind of step up,” he said. “Everybody out there got real excited with the helmets on. I think we have a lot of things to clean up, but like I said, with those leadership roles stepping up, I don’t think it will be a problem at all. You can see the direction the team is going in and personally, I’m real excited about it.”

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Watt was unquestionably one of the biggest leaders on the team the past two seasons. Asked who’s stepped up to help fill that void, Thomas singled out veteran inside linebackers Josh Woods and Kyzir White in addition to Gardeck and Collins.

“Really excited,” Thomas said of the linebacker personnel overall. “It’s a very similar group to the one we had last year, so the chemistry is 100 percent there. Obviously, there’s a new addition in BJ, but I think going forward, this group is going to be a really exciting group.”

Of course, it doesn’t feel the same without the inspirational Watt around.

“It’s a lot different,” Thomas said. “Like I said, though, a lot of leadership roles have stepped up. J.J. was definitely a big leader and definitely somebody you could look up to and learn from. Definitely, (his retirement) will leave a little bit of an impact, but I think other leaders have stepped up and done a phenomenal job.

“Honestly, his presence is gone, but with the leaders that have stepped up, I haven’t felt a dip off in leadership whatsoever. If anything, I would say we’ve even gained leadership.”

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bigger, stronger, faster Cameron Thomas could be key for Cardinals