 Thompson with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 | |||||||||||
| No. 83, 80, 14, 10, 15 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver Kick returner | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | (1989-02-14)February 14, 1989 (age 36) Belle Glade, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 204 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Glades Central (Belle Glade, Florida) | ||||||||||
| College: | Florida | ||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 2012 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Deonte Thompson (born February 14, 1989) is a formerAmerican footballwide receiver. He playedcollege football at theUniversity of Florida, where he was a member of aBCS National Championship team. Thompson was signed by theBaltimore Ravens as anundrafted free agent in 2012.
Thompson was born in the small agricultural town ofBelle Glade, Florida. He attendedGlades Central High School in Belle Glade, where he played for the Glades Central Raiders high school football team. As a senior in 2006, he helped lead the Raiders to a Class 3A state football championship with 30 receptions for 504 yards and eight touchdowns, despite missing five games with a foot injury. In the state championship game, he rushed for 82 yards and two touchdowns.[1]
Thompson also ran in the 100-meter and 200-meter events for the Glades Central track and field team. He won the100 meters at the 2007 Western Conference Meet, with a career-best time of 10.47 seconds.[2] In the finals of the 2007 FHSAA 2A Region 4, he earned first place in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters.[3] He ran a career-best time of 21.29 seconds in the200 meters as a senior.
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Thompson accepted a football scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida, to play under head coachUrban Meyer and coachWill Muschamp'sFlorida Gators football teams from2008 to2011. After red-shirting for the 2007 season, he played in every game in 2008 – a season which culminated in the Gators winning theBCS National Championship.
In2010, his most productive year, he had 38 receptions, 570 receiving yards, and a touchdown as a junior.[4] As a senior in 2011, he compiled 21 receptions, 264 receiving yards and a touchdown.[4] In four seasons, he totaled 101 catches for 1,446 yards and nine touchdowns.[4]
He was also a member of theGators track and field team. He placed fifth in the60-meter dash at the 2009 Tyson Invitational with a time of 6.80 seconds.[5]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft11+3⁄4 in (1.82 m) | 198 lb (90 kg) | 31+1⁄2 in (0.80 m) | 9+1⁄4 in (0.23 m) | 4.31 s | 1.50 s | 2.51 s | 4.40 s | 6.96 s | 36.5 in (0.93 m) | 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m) | 20 reps | |
| All values from Central FloridaPro Day[6][7] | ||||||||||||
Thompson was signed as anundrafted free agent by theBaltimore Ravens after the2012 NFL draft.[8]
He made the team and caught five passes in the regular season, and handled kick return duties for the first five games. Thompson had his best game as a wide receiver in Week 4 of the 2013 season when he caught four passes for 50 yards.
On December 8, 2014, Thompson was signed by theBuffalo Bills. On September 4, 2015, he was waived-injured by the Bills.[9] On September 11, 2015, Thompson was released by the Bills with an injury settlement.[10]
On September 22, 2015, Thompson was signed by theChicago Bears to the practice squad.[11] On November 10, Thompson was promoted to the active roster.[12]
Thompson re-signed with the Bears on a one-year contract on March 24, 2016.[13] On November 27, Thompson caught five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown against theTennessee Titans.[14] He recorded his first career touchdown, which was a 6-yard reception fromMatt Barkley in the fourth quarter.[15][16] On December 18, Thompson caught eight passes for a career-high 110 yards against theGreen Bay Packers.[17] He recorded his first 100-yard game of his career.[18]
On March 21, 2017, Thompson re-signed with the Bears.[19] In Week 2 of the 2017 season, Thompson recorded four receptions for 57 yards and his first touchdown of the 2017 season in the 29–7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[20] Thompson was released by the Bears on October 11.[21]
On October 17, 2017, Thompson signed with the Bills.[22] In his regular season debut with the Bills against theTampa Bay Buccaneers on October 22, he caught four passes for 107 yards, including a crucial 44 yard pass in the fourth quarter that set up the game-tying touchdown.[23] He also caught a 34-yard pass during ablizzard game against theIndianapolis Colts to set upLeSean McCoy's game-winning touchdown in overtime.[24] Thompson finished the season with career highs in receptions, targets, and receiving yards, also helping Buffalo make the playoffs for the first time since 1999.[25]
On March 22, 2018, Thompson signed as afree agent with theDallas Cowboys, receiving a $1,000,000 signing bonus and reuniting with new wide receivers coachSanjay Lal, who had him with the Bills in 2015.[26] He was limited with an Achilles strain from the start oftraining camp and worked back into practice for the last 2 preseason games. He was waived on September 1, in order to protectwide receiverNoah Brown from waivers. Thompson was re-signed after Brown was placed on theinjured reserve list on September 3.[27] Thompson was expected to be a starter as part of a wide-receiver-by-committee approach, that was put in place after the Cowboys released their mainwide receiverDez Bryant on April 13.
He was named a starter alongsideTerrance Williams in the season opener against theCarolina Panthers, making 3 receptions for 27 yards. He repeated as a starter in the second game, tallying 4 receptions for 33 yards. He started in the fourth game but didn't have any receptions. He started in the fifth game and had 2 receptions for 19 yards. In the sixth game he returned to a reserve role, after being passed on the depth chart by rookieMichael Gallup. On October 22, the Cowboys traded a 2019 first round draft choice to theOakland Raiders in exchange forAmari Cooper, to take over the number one receiver role, which also limited Thompson's targets moving forward. He was released on November 9.[28]
Thompson was signed by the Bills on November 14, 2018.[29] He was declared inactive with a toe injury in the season finale against theMiami Dolphins. He wasn't re-signed after the season.
Thompson was signed by theNew York Jets on May 21, 2019.[30] He was released on August 31, 2019.[31]
Media related toDeonte Thompson at Wikimedia Commons