Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Finally got around to gathering the data on Thompkins and plugging him into the WR database and thought I'd post this here instead of starting a new topic.
I took a glance at Thompkins's vitals earlier and he didn't register at all as a likely prospect, and he was already rostered in every league, so I'm just now getting around to it. For reference here are Thompkins exact measurements from the combine:
NCAA Performance: -9.8 (terrible)
Height: 72-5/8"
BMI/Size: 25.3 (Slight)
Speed: 4.46 forty/1.56 10-split (average speed)
Explosion: 33.5" vert, 121 broad (below average explosion)
Based on these numbers I believe Thompkins's best comparables are WRs between 6'0" and 6'2" tall; with low BMIs; decent, but not elite speed; average to low explosion; and an average to poor NCAA receiving metric. There are several of them and I was surprised at who they are. I expected it would filled with NFL nobodies, but it's not a bad list:
Jerome Pathon
Brian Hartline
Marc Mariani
Andre Davis
Darius Passmore
Demetrius Williams
Reggie Brown
Marvin Jones
Steve Breaston
Based on his initial success with the Patriots and that he's seemingly in line for a meaningful role this year I think it's probably safe to focus on the guys in bold. As a group these are mostly players who make their living on sudden change of direction and their ability to get create lateral separation, and who have been nice complementary players in the NFL at one time or another. However, despite the occasional big game or hype none of them emerged to become big-time NFL #1 WRs.
It's impossible to ever say someone won't have a sudden bout of unaccountable development -- it does happen -- but the odds are always against it and in this case may be even moreso as Thompkins enters the NFL at 25 years old. I believe that in terms of overall talent level it's far more likely than not than Thompkins is a role player similar to some of the players on the list above.
Having said that the Brady/Belichik Pats offense is clearly more than the sum or its parts and they've made exceptional use of niche role players in the past which makes committing to everything above pretty uncomfortable. But forced to make an up or down call, my take is that the Thompkins hype may be at its apex and that he'll prove be a useful, but ultimately replaceable, role player.
I took a glance at Thompkins's vitals earlier and he didn't register at all as a likely prospect, and he was already rostered in every league, so I'm just now getting around to it. For reference here are Thompkins exact measurements from the combine:
NCAA Performance: -9.8 (terrible)
Height: 72-5/8"
BMI/Size: 25.3 (Slight)
Speed: 4.46 forty/1.56 10-split (average speed)
Explosion: 33.5" vert, 121 broad (below average explosion)
Based on these numbers I believe Thompkins's best comparables are WRs between 6'0" and 6'2" tall; with low BMIs; decent, but not elite speed; average to low explosion; and an average to poor NCAA receiving metric. There are several of them and I was surprised at who they are. I expected it would filled with NFL nobodies, but it's not a bad list:
Jerome Pathon
Brian Hartline
Marc Mariani
Andre Davis
Darius Passmore
Demetrius Williams
Reggie Brown
Marvin Jones
Steve Breaston
Based on his initial success with the Patriots and that he's seemingly in line for a meaningful role this year I think it's probably safe to focus on the guys in bold. As a group these are mostly players who make their living on sudden change of direction and their ability to get create lateral separation, and who have been nice complementary players in the NFL at one time or another. However, despite the occasional big game or hype none of them emerged to become big-time NFL #1 WRs.
It's impossible to ever say someone won't have a sudden bout of unaccountable development -- it does happen -- but the odds are always against it and in this case may be even moreso as Thompkins enters the NFL at 25 years old. I believe that in terms of overall talent level it's far more likely than not than Thompkins is a role player similar to some of the players on the list above.
Having said that the Brady/Belichik Pats offense is clearly more than the sum or its parts and they've made exceptional use of niche role players in the past which makes committing to everything above pretty uncomfortable. But forced to make an up or down call, my take is that the Thompkins hype may be at its apex and that he'll prove be a useful, but ultimately replaceable, role player.
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