The Jets selected Florida State cornerback Azareye'h Thomas with the 73rd overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday night.

Thomas (6-2, 196) started 12 games for the Seminoles last season and totaled a career-high 52 tackles to go with 5 pass defenses and 1 interception. The Niceville, FL native played in 37 games during his three seasons in Tallahassee and totaled 95 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 17 PDs and 2 INT.

"I'm physical," he told reporters Friday night after he was selected. "I'll smother you, I'm going to lock down my side of the field and I'm a great teammate."

A one-year starter at FSU, Thomas allowed 17 catches on 33 targets in the 2024 season. The Athletic's Dane Brugler said Thomas' play style is similar to Carlton Davis, who played for Jets head coach Aaron Glenn on the Lions last season when Glenn was Detroit's defensive coordinator. Thomas, like Davis, did not run a fast 40-yard dash (4.58 seconds), which he may have been dinged for in the pre-draft process by evaluators, but that did not matter for Thomas' new head coach.

"Awhile ago, I really started to look at play speed a little bit more than just timed speed," Glenn told reporters Friday night. "I had a guy [in Detroit] last year in [DB] Brian Branch. He ran a 4.58 also, but his play speed was like 4.3. I think everyone knows the way he plays. Just looking at the player and seeing how he plays on the field, that's more enticing to me than watching a guy run in underwear at the Combine. Football is football and he plays the brand that we want to play. He's a big, physical man and I'm looking forward to him getting up here and being able to take what he did at Florida State and bring that to us because that's how we play."

Thomas, the fourth of five children, was born in Okaloosa County, which is in the Florida panhandle but moved to DeFuniak Springs, FL where Thomas picked up basketball, baseball, soccer and track as well as football. He comes from an athletic family that includes two college football players. His oldest brother, Azende Rey, played WR at Texas A&M and Georgia Tech and his older brother, Juanyeh Thomas, played S at Georgia Tech before he signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2022.

Azareye'h (pronounced uh-ZAR-ee-yay) Thomas made his first varsity team in sixth grade at Walton County before moving roughly 30 miles north to Niceville where he made varsity for four years and played both ways. He accounted for 1,125 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior in 2020 and he did not allow a touchdown in coverage. After receiving offers from Michigan, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Miami and others, Thomas decided to commit to Florida State where he could be close to his mother, who was having health problems.

Thomas joins a cornerbacks room that includes other big-bodied players such as Sauce Gardner (6-3, 190) and Brandon Stephens (6-1, 215).

"It's going to be a blessing," Thomas said. "Sauce is actually one of the guys that I've studied and watched. It's just a blessing to be here and it's crazy how everything comes full circle."

Thomas is the 12th FSU player to be taken by the Jets in their 66 drafts and the third in the last four drafts. The Green & White selected Jermaine Johnson No. 26 overall in 2022 and QB Jordan Travis in the fifth round last year. Other notable Seminoles to be drafted by the Jets include WR Laveranues Coles (2000) and RB-KR Leon Washington (2006).

"It's crazy because I didn't speak to him too much before, but this past year, on the phone and when I see him in person, we spoke deep about life," Thomas said of his relationship with Johnson, who wore garnet and gold for one season. "Just how he was going through an injury and is getting back to 100 percent now. Just how he speaks and how wise he is, we've gotten closer over this past year. Everything happens for a reason and I'm here now."

This was the first time the Jets have selected a player with the No. 73 overall pick.