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Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas held a press conference at the Broncos facility today discussing his newly signed contract. He was asked multiple questions, but when he was asked about his goals for 2015, he mentioned the single season receiving yards record.
DT said he wants to break NFL single season record for receiving yards. I said in this new offense? "There's a lot of big plays" #broncos
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) July 17, 2015
That's a pretty lofty goal for Thomas but one he believes he can do.
"I want to lead the league in yards and touchdowns, basically about everything a receiver can do," Thomas said. "But yeah, I kind of want to break the NFL record in yards."
That record is held by Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson who broke Jerry Rice's record back in 2012. If Thomas wants to top Johnson's record, he will need to get at least 1,964 yards.
Thomas believes this is a realistic goal because of his production last season. Thomas got off to a slow start in 2014 but averaged 113.69 yards per game after that, and No. 88 believes if he started the season better, he would have had a shot at Johnson's record.
"If my first three games weren't bad last year, I would have got it,"
If Thomas would have totaled that 113.69 yards per game for the entire 16 game schedule, he would have totaled 1,819 yards. That would rank him third all-time on the single season receiving yard list.
With the Broncos moving to a more balanced/run oriented offense this season, I believe that goal will be hard to achieve. It would be pretty cool to see Thomas do it though.
Thomas never planned to miss games:
There were some reports leading up to the signing deadline that Thomas was willing to sit out some games this season if he didn't get a contract. Well, Thomas refuted those claims today.
.@DemaryiusT: "I wasn't going to sit out games ... I was going to play 16 games."
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) July 17, 2015
I'm glad the Broncos and Thomas were able to agree to a deal and avoid the soap opera if he didn't sign.
Go Broncos!