Thomas Booker Offers Depth for the Commanders’ Defensive Line

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Thomas Booker, DT

School: Stanford | Conference: Pac-12

College Experience: Senior | Age: ?

Height / Weight: 6’3” / 301 lbs

Projected Draft Status: 4th – 6th round

Player Comparison: B.J. Hill

College Statistics

Player Overview

Thomas Booker is a renaissance man on and off the field. While in high school in Baltimore, Maryland, Booker was one of the top defensive end recruits, a shot putter, and senior-class vice president. Wanting to attend a school that excelled in both academics and athletics, Booker chose Stanford. While at Stanford, Booker did whatever was asked of him. He played each position from the 0 technique to 9 technique in their 3-4 defense. This versatility along with his athleticism will make him an attractive prospect to many teams in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Strengths

• Quick off snap; beats blockers with quick hands
• Shows ability to stack and shed while maintaining vision in backfield
• Effectively uses speed and power to get in the backfield
• Good lateral movement when pursuing the ball
• Team captain with high football IQ

Weaknesses

• Needs to get stronger at point of attack; too often pushed back
• Can struggle to disengage from blocks
• Does not have any counter moves on rushes
• Can get washed out of run plays by down blocks
• Wonder about conditioning; saw stretches in games when he wasn’t on the field

Let’s see his work

How He Fits On The Team

Despite his impressive athleticism, Thomas Booker does not have a lot of splash plays. Part of that is because he was asked to do a lot at Stanford like occupy blockers and redirect plays. Another part is that he needs to improve his strength at the point of attack. However, there are definitely glimpses of strength and quickness that should see him contributing at the next level in the right situation.

Going into the offseason, Washington’s big question at defensive tackle was whether Tim Settle would be retained. He’s gone and so is Matt Ioannidis, so defensive tackle depth needs to be improved. Daniel Wise, Jr. looks to get more playing time as a rotational player, but the team needs more players at the position. Booker could be an athletic player to add to the rotation. Washington generally asks their defensive linemen to attack upfield and Booker has the athletic ability to do that. While he has experience at every defensive line position, asking Booker to focus on defense tackle might lead to more consistent production. He should also see less double teams and have more space to operate playing next to the talented defensive linemen on the Commanders’ roster.