Why the 49ers are So Encouraged with Ambry Thomas

Forget the numbers for now.

Rookie cornerback Ambry Thomas made his first career start in emergency relief of Dontae Johnson last week, and the numbers weren't great:

Four targets, two catches allowed, 54 receivings yards allowed, one touchdown catch allowed and two penalties on Thomas.

But given the circumstances, the 49ers were impressed with the rookie cornerback. Here's what defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week about Thomas' starting debut.

How do you assess Ambry Thomas' first career?

RYANS: "I thought Ambry had some encouraging snaps out there. In his first time with that much action in the NFL, for his first game, I thought he did some good things. And there's a lot for him to grow from, a lot for him to learn from as well with him being out there as much as he did. One thing I liked about Ambry, he didn't blink. He had some penalties, gave up a play, but he didn't blink. He got right back out there and continued to compete. I love that about him. I like his attitude throughout the game. I like how he was flying around. So he did some encouraging things for us that he can definitely grow from."

Did you like his aggressiveness jamming receivers?

RYANS: "For sure. I thought he was physical at the line. He did a really nice job of jamming the receivers. He was doing his job. He was where he was supposed to be. He was accountable. I liked everything he did out there. There are some plays as a rookie that you get beat on. It's good thing it happened when we were able to win the game and he can learn from those mistakes and continued to grow."

What attracted you guys to Thomas?

RYANS: "His length, first off. And his speed. Him downfield. He made some really nice plays in college. He didn't play football last year, so he's still getting back in the swing of things. Missing a whole year of football is tough. So he's still growing and developing from that standpoint.

Ambry Thomas, you said that he did some really good things. Obviously, his mistakes were amplified with those reversals of big plays by the defense. What did you see from his play?

KYLE SHANAHAN: “I liked how he looked out there. I thought it was the best that I've seen him look, the way he was throwing his body around, made some tackles. I thought he was really good in his jams off the line of scrimmage. So good that he got two penalties from it. He's just got to lower his target area because he was jamming the receivers as good as I feel like we've had at keeping them from getting off the line. And he had two, one that slipped up to the face mask, one that hit the guy in the chin, which were penalties. But I liked his intent on the plays. He wasn't trying to hide, he was putting himself out there and going against a real good receiver who got him a couple times, but I thought there was a number of times he covered real well that you don't see the ball thrown there because he is covering well. First game and there's a lot to learn from it, but I was very encouraged with it.”