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Before the 2021 season, Solomon Thomas was in Javon Kinlaw’s situation.
He was a former first-round pick — a high one, too — whose career had stalled with the 49ers.
His production teetered on the brink of disappointing. It was time for a reset.
Thomas spent that year with the Raiders before inking a Jets deal in 2022 to reunite with coach Robert Saleh.
Then, last year, he settled into a rhythm as a rotational piece on the defensive line and finished with a career-high five sacks, a breakthrough for someone who’d stopped worrying about meeting expectations.
And throughout the Jets’ latest training camp, which wrapped up Thursday, Kinlaw has emerged as the next ex-49ers lineman who could revive his career with Gang Green.
He was listed as a starter on the team’s unofficial depth chart and will have a chance to contribute next to Quinnen Williams on the interior of the line.
Thomas’ 2023 season — the sacks, the most tackles for loss (seven) since his rookie year, the search for a jolt that ended when he stayed with the Jets, all of it — could now become the blueprint for Kinlaw’s revival.
“We have a similar career path,” Thomas said of Kinlaw, whose fifth-year option was declined by the 49ers ahead of the 2023 season. “High draft picks, things not going our way, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s doubt, whether it’s playing in certain positions, whatever it is. And … just his focus on himself and bought in and grown has been really cool.”
The pair overlapped for a season in San Francisco in 2020 — Saleh’s final year as defensive coordinator, Thomas’ final season before free agency after the 49ers declined his fifth-year option.
Kinlaw, then a rookie as the No. 14 overall pick, was a 12-game starter with just 1.5 sacks.
Thomas’ season ended in Week 2 when he tore his ACL.
His stint in Las Vegas didn’t amount to long-term stability, either.
But Thomas started to carve out a role with the Jets in 2022.
That became the foundation for his career-best campaign when Thomas — with the help of his therapist, sports psychologist and family — “let go of expectations and let go of outcomes,” something that he said changed his career.
Kinlaw’s addition, a $7.25 million deal following the three sacks in a contract year where he was finally healthy after the ACL tear, will again complicate Thomas’ path to significant, and starting, snaps in 2024. But that role could also lead to another revival.
It already happened once with Thomas. Kinlaw’s performance in camp suggests it could happen again.
“We’re just seeing a new side of [Kinlaw],” Thomas said.
