Darwin Thompson (born February 12, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

before transferring to

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

and was drafted by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in the sixth round of the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

. Thompson won a Super Bowl title as part of the Chiefs in

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...

Early life

Thompson grew up in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

and attended

Jenks High School Jenks High School is a secondary school located within Tulsa County in Jenks, Oklahoma, United States. It serves students from the town of Jenks and students from the south side of the city of Tulsa. The high school has over 2,800 students in grad ...

. As a senior in 2014, he rushed for 942 yards and 10 touchdowns on 152 carries as the backup running back, and helped the team win a Class 6A-I state championship. As a football prospect, he was rated as a three-star recruit and the 16th highest rated recruit in the state of Oklahoma by the

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

Composite.

College career

Thompson received zero

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

scholarship offers coming out of high school. He enrolled at

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

, a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

Miami, Oklahoma Miami ( ) is a city in and county seat of Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States, founded in 1891. Lead and zinc mining were established by 1918, causing the area's economy to boom. This area was part of Indian Territory. Miami is the capital of ...

, and

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

the 2015 season. As a redshirt freshman in 2016, he posted 1,029 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 150 attempts. As a redshirt sophomore in 2017, he was named Offensive MVP of the Southwest Junior Football Conference and an

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

second-team All-American after he ran for 1,391 yards and eight touchdowns on the year. His 2,420 career rushing yards is the second-most in Northeastern Oklahoma A&M school history. Coming out of junior college, Thompson was again rated as a three-star recruit, ranked as the best JUCO all-purpose back in the country by 247Sports. He committed to play at

on December 17, 2017. Thompson played one season at Utah State, starting in nine games and playing in 13 during the 2018 season. On November 3, he rushed for a career high 140 yards and three touchdowns against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, and was named

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

Offensive Player of the Week. He rushed for 1,044 yards and 14 touchdowns on 153 attempts on the year, and was named second-team All-Mountain West Conference.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Thompson was drafted by the

in the sixth round with the 214th overall pick in the

. As a rookie, Thompson appeared in 12 games and recorded 37 carries for 128 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown to go along with nine receptions for 43 receiving yards. In the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, Thompson recovered a fumble forced by teammate

Daniel Sorensen Daniel Sorensen (born March 5, 1990) is an American football safety for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at BYU. Professional career Kansas City Chiefs 2014 On May 11, 2014, the Kansas C ...

on punt returner

DeAndre Carter DeAndre Carter (born April 10, 1993) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Sacramento State before signing with the Baltimo ...

during the 51–31 win. The Chiefs went on to win

after defeating the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

31–20 to give Thompson his first championship. In Week 17 of the 2020 season against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

, Thompson recorded 110 yards from scrimmage, one rushing touchdown, and one receiving touchdown during the 38–21 loss. He was released on August 31, 2021.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On September 2, 2021, Thompson signed with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

as part of their practice squad. He was released on January 13, 2022.

Kansas City Chiefs (second stint)

Thompson was signed to the

practice squad on January 14, 2022.

Seattle Seahawks

On February 16, 2022, Thompson signed a reserve/future contract with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

. He was waived on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 17, 2023. He was waived on April 17, 2023.

Las Vegas Raiders

On August 12, 2023, Thompson signed with the

Personal life

Darwin is the son of Rueben and Lashonne Thompson. He is the nephew of former

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

and

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

running back David Thompson. Thompson is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

References

External links

Kansas City Chiefs bioUtah State Aggies bioNortheastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Darwin 1997 births Living people American football running backs Kansas City Chiefs players Las Vegas Raiders players Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen football players People from Jenks, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Tulsa County, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Seattle Seahawks players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Utah State Aggies football players