Juqua Thomas Finds His Comfort Zone In Philadelphia
By Michael Williams (4/3/2007)
Juqua Thomas wanted to return to the Eagles and the Eagles wanted him back. That was all. Thomas, who is 28 years old, could have signed a huge contract as a free agent with any other team but he was not interested in the money. What he wanted was to be with a team he is comfortable with and this resulted in Thomas signing a five year contract with the Eagles.
Thomas said that he loves the Eagles and is extremely proud of them. He said that since he felt comfortable and enjoyed playing with the team, it did not make sense to leave the Eagles and go to some other team.
Last season, Thomas played in all the 16 regular season games and he had a career high 47 tackles and 6 sacks. In the two playoff games with 5 tackles and 1.5 sacks, Thomas was considered to be of high market value.
In 2001, Thomas started his football career with the Tennessee Titans as a free agent. He played with the Titans for 4 seasons but did not perform spectacularly because he was overshadowed by Jevon Kearse and Carlos Hall. During the 2005 training camp, he signed up with the Eagles and he has been with them for the last two seasons. He thinks that the Eagles have been instrumental in bringing the best out him but he believes he can still better his play.
Thomas said that he would now focus on improving the defense that give up 435 yards to New Orleans in the Divisional Playoff game.
Thomas has a total of 128 tackles, 11 sacks, 33 quarterback hurries, 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries in his 73 game career. |