1. Demaryius Antwon Thomas was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League for ten seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos.
75 Facts About Demaryius Thomas
1. 2.
Demaryius Thomas played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, earning third-team All-American honors in 2009.
3.
Demaryius Thomas was selected by the Broncos in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft.
4.
Demaryius Thomas was a member of the Houston Texans, New England Patriots, and New York Jets.
5.
Demaryius Thomas was born in Montrose, Georgia, on December 25,1987.
6.
Demaryius Thomas's mother was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and his grandmother to life in prison, for crack cocaine distribution.
7.
Demaryius Thomas was released at midnight on November 11,2015 and saw her son play football for the first time on January 17,2016.
8.
Demaryius Thomas attended West Laurens High School in Dexter, Georgia, where he was a three-sport star in basketball, football, and track.
9.
Demaryius Thomas played wide receiver for the Raiders football team under the direction of then head coach John Kenny.
10.
Demaryius Thomas was named an all-region and all-Heart of Georgia player.
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Demaryius Thomas was again selected as an all-region and all-Heart of Georgia, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named him to its Class AA all-state first team and PrepStar to its All-Region team.
12.
Demaryius Thomas received scholarship offers from Duke, Georgia, and Georgia Tech.
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Demaryius Thomas earned a fourth-place finish in the triple jump event at the 2006 Georgia Olympics after clearing a personal-best mark of 13.92 meters.
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Demaryius Thomas chose to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology where he majored in management.
15.
Under Yellow Jackets head coach Chan Gailey, Demaryius Thomas sat out the 2006 season as a redshirt freshman.
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Demaryius Thomas scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 56-yard pass from Taylor Bennett in the Yellow Jackets' fourth game against Virginia.
17.
Still, compared with other receivers in the Atlantic Coast Conference Demaryius Thomas's statistics were much smaller.
18.
Demaryius Thomas played in the game against Iowa but did not record any statistics in his final collegiate game.
19.
Demaryius Thomas finished his collegiate career with 120 catches for a conference-leading 2,339 yards and 14 touchdowns.
20.
Demaryius Thomas scored second highest among wide receivers with 34 on the Wonderlic test, second only to friend, fellow wide receiver, and future teammate Eric Decker, who had the highest score in the Combine with 43.
21.
Demaryius Thomas was the first wide receiver to be chosen that year.
22.
Demaryius Thomas was just the ninth player since 1970 to record at least eight catches in his first game.
23.
Demaryius Thomas had the second-most catches by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Eddie Royal, who had nine in a game against the Oakland Raiders in 2008.
24.
Demaryius Thomas first missed playing time due to a forearm injury and then a concussion; an ankle injury rendered him inactive for five more games late in the season.
25.
Demaryius Thomas finished his rookie season with 22 receptions for 283 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
26.
On February 10,2011, it was announced that Demaryius Thomas had torn his achilles tendon while working out and was expected to miss a majority, if not the entirety, of the 2011 season.
27.
Demaryius Thomas made his season debut on October 23,2011, in Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins.
28.
Demaryius Thomas linked up with quarterback Tim Tebow on a five-yard reception for the Broncos' first score of the game.
29.
Demaryius Thomas broke his leg in a Week 13 game against the Minnesota Vikings on December 4,2011.
30.
Demaryius Thomas ended the season strongly, emerging as Tebow's favorite receiver and setting a franchise record by leading the Broncos in both receiving and targets over the final seven games.
31.
Demaryius Thomas ended with a stat-line of four receptions for 204 yards and a touchdown in his playoff debut.
32.
Demaryius Thomas ended the 2011 regular season with 32 receptions for 551 yards and four touchdowns.
33.
Demaryius Thomas was coming off surgery to remove pins in his left pinkie when quarterback Peyton Manning signed with the Broncos during the 2012 offseason.
34.
Demaryius Thomas made an effort to improve his route-running and quickly caught up.
35.
Demaryius Thomas finished the day with five receptions for 110 receiving yards and the touchdown.
36.
Demaryius Thomas set regular-season career highs in both catches, with nine, and receiving yards, with 180, in the road loss to the New England Patriots on October 7,2012.
37.
Demaryius Thomas tied his career high of nine catches in games against the Carolina Panthers in Week 10 and the Cleveland Browns in Week 16.
38.
Demaryius Thomas registered three catches for 37 yards and one touchdown in the Broncos' 2OT Divisional Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs.
39.
Demaryius Thomas had a breakout year in 2012, recording 94 receptions for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns.
40.
Demaryius Thomas led the team in targets, receptions, and yards, and ranked eighth in the league in receptions, fourth in yards, and seventh in touchdowns.
41.
Demaryius Thomas was selected to his first Pro Bowl in the 2012 season after receiver Wes Welker withdrew due to injury.
42.
Demaryius Thomas was ranked 68th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013 list.
43.
Demaryius Thomas's 161 receiving yards were the second-most in franchise history for a season-opening game, trailing only Shannon Sharpe's 180 in the Broncos' 1995 regular season opener.
44.
Demaryius Thomas received AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career in the Broncos' Week 10 win over the San Diego Chargers.
45.
Demaryius Thomas posted seven receptions, 108 yards, and three touchdowns.
46.
Demaryius Thomas caught Manning's 55th touchdown, which set an NFL record for the most touchdowns thrown by a quarterback in a single season.
47.
Manning, who said that Demaryius Thomas "got great speed and power and it's fun to watch once he gets it in his hands", attributed part of Demaryius Thomas' success to "all the runs he had to practice at Georgia Tech".
48.
Demaryius Thomas finished second in the NFL to Jimmy Graham in receiving touchdowns, but his 14 touchdowns led all wide receivers.
49.
Demaryius Thomas led the team in targets, receptions, and yards for the second consecutive year.
50.
Demaryius Thomas was selected to the Associated Press All-Pro team for the first time in his career.
51.
Demaryius Thomas set a then NFL record for most catches in a Super Bowl game by a player, despite reportedly playing most of the game with a separated shoulder.
52.
On October 5,2014, against the Arizona Cardinals, Demaryius Thomas made eight receptions for 226 yards, breaking the franchise record for receiving yards in a single game held by Shannon Sharpe, and two touchdowns, of which one went for a career-high 86 yards.
53.
Demaryius Thomas earned his second AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor for his performance against the Cardinals.
54.
On October 19,2014, against the San Francisco 49ers, Demaryius Thomas caught Peyton Manning's all-time record-breaking 509th touchdown pass.
55.
Demaryius Thomas finished second only to Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown in receiving yards for the 2014 season, with a career-high 1,619 yards off a career-high 111 catches.
56.
Demaryius Thomas was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl for the 2014 season.
57.
Demaryius Thomas was ranked 20th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015 list.
58.
Reports indicated that the tag was non-exclusive, which meant that Demaryius Thomas could negotiate with other teams, and the Broncos held the right to match any offer, or receive two first-round picks as compensation.
59.
On July 15,2015, Demaryius Thomas signed a five-year, $70 million contract extension with the Broncos, just hours before the deadline for franchise players.
60.
Demaryius Thomas was drafted just two picks after Thomas, going 24th overall in the 2010 NFL draft.
61.
Between Peyton Manning struggling with a plantar fasciitis injury and Brock Osweiler never having a career start before the season, Demaryius Thomas's production dropped, but he still had 105 receptions for 1,304 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.
62.
Demaryius Thomas had one catch for eight yards in the Super Bowl.
63.
Demaryius Thomas was ranked 62nd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015 list.
64.
Demaryius Thomas finished the 2016 season with 90 receptions for 1,083 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.
65.
Demaryius Thomas remained a strong presence for the Broncos despite inconsistent quarterback play in 2017.
66.
On February 12,2019, Demaryius Thomas was released by the Texans.
67.
Demaryius Thomas was released during final roster cuts on August 31,2019.
68.
On September 10,2019, Demaryius Thomas was traded to the New York Jets in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
69.
Demaryius Thomas made his Jets' debut in a Week 2 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
70.
Demaryius Thomas was an evangelical Christian, and he frequently posted about his faith on his Twitter account.
71.
Demaryius Thomas had a tattoo of a portrait of Jesus on his left arm bearing the phrase "Jesus Saves".
72.
On December 9,2021, Demaryius Thomas was discovered unconscious at his residence in Roswell, Georgia.
73.
Demaryius Thomas was later pronounced dead at the age of 33.
74.
The cause of death was believed to be a seizure, secondary to injuries Demaryius Thomas suffered from years of football and a 2019 car crash.
75.
Demaryius Thomas is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease.