On Wednesday, Stanford senior defensive end Thomas Booker formally announced his declaration for the 2022 NFL Draft. This is a move that comes at no surprise as Booker is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a minor in Communication. Booker was not expected to be back next year and that was made pretty clear by the comments he made in the post-game presser following Stanford’s loss to Notre Dame.
In his statement posted on social media, Booker said:
“Since I was in middle school, my goal was to play college football and come to Stanford. To say that I’ve been able to accomplish those two things is amazing.
“The connections I’ve made along the way have been just as fulfilling. The relationships that I’ve been fortunate enough to build with teammates, coaches, and staff are lasting bonds that have given me so much strength, support, and joy. Specifically, thank you to Coach Shaw, Coach Anderson, Coach Reynolds, and the entire team for believing and putting me in positions to succeed as a player, student, and most of all, as a person. The last four years have been a wild ride, and it has been those relationships and my family, that have stayed constant through it all. For that, I am forever grateful.
“I still have another dream to chase; a dream I’ve had since I was young enough to watch TV. That dream is playing on Sundays in the National Football League. With that being said, I am declaring for the 2022 NFL Draft. It’s been an honor to serve as a two-time captain while representing the best university in the world.”
In terms of his NFL potential, Booker has great physical tools at 6’4”, 309 pounds. He totaled 159 tackles (89 solo), 20.5 tackles for a loss, 9.5 sacks, and 1 interception during his Stanford career. He’s got a nice blend of speed and strength, that should get him a look by NFL teams and he’s also a very high IQ player. He understands the game really well and is one of the brightest guys you’ll ever be around. So that intelligence should serve him well as he goes through the pre-draft process.
Interestingly enough, Booker’s most productive seasons on The Farm were his freshman and sophomore years when he weighed 279-280 pounds. It was when he added the weight that his numbers started to dip. So, shedding the weight might be a good move for him. With less weight, he was quicker off the edge and that seemed to make a positive difference for him.
My honest projection for Thomas Booker is somewhere in the range of 6th round to undrafted. Once you get to that point of the draft, there’s a whole bunch of different guys who could get picked and Booker will be among those that could be selected at that point. Regardless of whether or not he gets selected, he’s a guy who we could see on Sundays. You just can’t teach the physical gifts or IQ that he has.
Note: Booker will be playing in the East-West Shrine Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to tune up for the NFL Draft.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker, click here.
