#3 – Derrick Thomas, OLB, 1989. 4th pick.
Marilyn Monroe. Buddy Holly. John Belushi. When talented people die young, it robs us all of the rest of their story.
Here’s what we know about the unfinished story. Derrick holds the all-time record for sacks in a game with 7, and he also holds the second-highest total with 6. He has one of the ten best sack seasons in NFL history with his 20 sacks in 1990. And when he beat St. Peter's blindside at the pearly gates, he was ranked in the top ten all time in sacks. 18 years later, he’s ranked 16th all time.
So how would the story have progressed? We know that his career was past its prime at the end, but in his last few years he was still averaging more than 10 sacks per season, which is a level to which most linebackers aspire. (We'd been spoiled by his earlier years.) He’d made no noises about retiring, so if he’d played 2 more years at that pace, he’d currently be ranked 5th all time. He was pretty much a lock to do that. Four more years, and he’d likely currently be ranked third all time behind Reggie White and that Bills guy who refused to retire no matter how bad he was sucking.
Even in its unfinished state, he still had a stellar career. 11 seasons with the Chiefs, 157 starts, 9 pro bowls, and 2 all-pro selections. That’s a win for any first-round draft pick.
Of course, Derrick’s success was not a shock. I remember the 1989 draft. It was pretty certain that Aikman and Mandarich (ha!) were going early, and the rumor mill had the Chiefs interested in Derrick Thomas, Broderick Thomas, and Deion Sanders. (Barry Sanders was also available, but Marty had no interest in little running backs. He probably viewed Barry as 5th round talent.)
I remember reading about the prospects, and I was wowed by Derrick Thomas. The guy had 27 sacks his junior year. The argument for Broderick Thomas was that he had a similar number of hurries, but come on. In the NFL, college sacks become hurries and college hurries become nothing. I definitely wanted Derrick over Broderick, and fortunately Marty and Carl agreed. (Bless you, Carl!). And you always take a 27-sack guy over a cornerback, even if the cornerback is kind of fast. So I was thrilled when we took Derrick over those other two guys.
By the way, if you’d like to know the official NCAA (FCS) records, they started observing sack records beginning in the Year 2000. The official record holder for single-season sacks is Terrell Suggs with 24. Derrick Thomas had 27 in 1988. The official career record is again Suggs with 44. Derrick Thomas had 52 in his career. So we know two things: Derrick Thomas is the best pass rusher in college football history, and Terrell Suggs wishes he was as good as Derrick Thomas.
And then I remember the first game watching him play – you didn’t have to be a football expert to see that he was going to be amazing. I distinctly remember watching him that first game and thinking, “Holy cow, look at that new guy’s first step.” Everyone was saying that.
The Chiefs had been picking up good players around him, but true Chiefs fans know the truth: the moment that the Chiefs rose from the dead was the moment that Derrick Thomas set foot on the Arrowhead turf. He turned the entire franchise around, and for that a grateful nation of tailgaters will forever thank him.
Now, I’ve talked about sacks a lot, and there's a reason for that. We remember that time that Derrick got the interception, and that was great, but he was a pass rush guy at his core. There are some people who complain about this, and pound the table that he was one-dimensional. These are likely the same people who complain about the lack of legroom on the SR-71 Blackbird, or the fact that Beethoven wrote very little music for the sitar. Those people are stupid.
Was Derrick a specialist? Yes. He was a specialist because he was one of the best people in the world at that one thing, and it would be ignorant to use him for any other purpose. Time, space, and situation didn’t matter. If he had been born in the Ice Age, he would’ve been the caveman who sprinted around the mammoth’s left side and brought it down from the blind side. It’s what he did.
The most intriguing story for Derrick may center more on what might have been, though. Imagine him playing four more years, which was quite feasible. He was replaced over the next few years by a devil’s brew of Lew Bush, Donnie Edwards, Mike Maslowski, and Shawn Barber. What if he had played those years?
2000 – He likely wouldn’t have been a difference maker for Gunther’s 7-9 team.
2001 – Dick Vermeil rode into town with a 6-10 record, but began putting together that greatest offense in Chiefs history. Greg Robinson began assembling the worst defense in Chiefs history, but Derrick might’ve slowed that down.
2002 – Dick had the team up to 8-8 with Maslowski at ROLB. Derrick might’ve had them in the playoffs.
2003 – Ah, 2003, that magical year. Imagine the scenario.
It would have been Derrick’s final season. The offense was a Priest-powered Messerchmidt, gunning down everything in its path. Without Derrick, the actual 2003 team started out 9-0, then fell apart when … get this … linebacker Mike Maslowski went down for the season. The Chiefs had the #1 offense in the league, and all they had to do was stop the Colts once. Once. But no.
Now imagine that team with Derrick. They wouldn't have fallen apart at the end. They would have gotten home field. Derrick would have stopped at least one drive against the Colts. The Chiefs would’ve then dragged New England into the LOUDEST STADIUM ON EARTH like an ermine dragging a rabbit into its den. Derrick’s final Arrowhead appearance would have eaten their inexperienced team alive in what would have been one of the most memorable games in franchise history. After that the Panthers would have been an afterthought. Confetti starts falling, we see that inimitable Derrick Thomas smile as he hoists the Lombardi, and then he gets into the Super Bowl MVP car, fastens his seat belt, and drives off over the horizon.
We really deserved that ending.
