Deonte Thompson (born February 14, 1989) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

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and was a member of their 2009 BCS National Championship team. Thompson was signed by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2012.

Early life

Thompson was born in the small agricultural town of

Belle Glade, Florida Belle Glade is a city in south-central Florida and it is the far western part of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, on the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. According to th ...

. He attended Glades 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.GatorZone.com, Football, 2011 Roster
Deonte Thompson
Retrieved July 11, 2014. Thompson also ran in the 100-meter and 200-meter events for the Glades Central track and field team. He won the 100 meters at the 2007 Western Conference Meet, with a career-best time of 10.47 seconds. In the finals of the 2007 FHSAA 2A Region 4, he earned first place in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters. He ran a career-best time of 21.29 seconds in the 200 meters as a senior.

College career

Thompson accepted a football scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, to play under head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

and coach Will Muschamp's

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

teams from

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. After red-shirting for the 2007 season, he played in every game in 2008 – a season which culminated in the Gators winning the

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four desi ...

. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, his most productive year, he had 38 receptions, 570 receiving yards, and a touchdown as a junior. As a senior in 2011, he compiled 21 receptions, 264 receiving yards and a touchdown. In four seasons, he totaled 101 catches for 1,446 yards and nine touchdowns. He was also a member of the Gators track and field team. He placed fifth in the

60-meter dash 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

at the 2009 Tyson Invitational with a time of 6.80 seconds.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Thompson was signed as an

by the

after the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. 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.

Buffalo Bills (first stint)

On December 8, 2014, Thompson was signed by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

. On September 4, 2015, he was waived-injured by the Bills. On September 11, 2015, Thompson was released by the Bills with an injury settlement.

Chicago Bears

On September 22, 2015, Thompson was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

to the practice squad. On November 10, Thompson was promoted to the active roster. Thompson re-signed with the Bears on a one-year contract on March 24, 2016. On November 27, Thompson caught five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

. He recorded his first career touchdown, which was a 6-yard reception from

Matt Barkley Matthew Montgomery Barkley (born September 8, 1990) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the USC Trojans, setting set the Pac-12 Conference season record for touchdown passes as a junior. Due to suffer ...

in the fourth quarter. On December 18, Thompson caught eight passes for a career-high 110 yards against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. He recorded his first 100-yard game of his career. On March 21, 2017, Thompson re-signed with the Bears. 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. Thompson was released by the Bears on October 11.

Buffalo Bills (second stint)

On October 17, 2017, Thompson signed with the Bills. In his regular season debut with the Bills against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

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. He also caught a 34-yard pass during a blizzard game against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

to set up

LeSean McCoy LeSean Kamel McCoy (born July 12, 1988), nicknamed "Shady", is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers and was selecte ...

's game-winning touchdown in overtime. 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.

Dallas Cowboys

On March 22, 2018, Thompson signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, receiving a $1,000,000 signing bonus and reuniting with new wide receivers coach

Sanjay Lal Sanjay Lal (born July 23, 1969) is an American football coach who is the wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapo ...

, who had him with the Bills in 2015. He was limited with an Achilles strain from the start of

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

and worked back into practice for the last 2 preseason games. He was waived on September 1, in order to protect

Noah Brown from waivers. Thompson was re-signed after Brown was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

on September 3. 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 main

Dez Bryant Desmond Demond Bryant (born November 4, 1988) is an American former professional American football, football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys football, Oklahoma State ...

on April 13. He was named a starter alongside Terrance Williams in the season opener against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

, 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 rookie

Michael Gallup Michael Gallup (born March 4, 1996) is an American professional American football, football wide receiver for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Butler Grizzlies and Colorado Stat ...

. On October 22, the Cowboys traded a 2019 first round draft choice to the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

in exchange for

Amari Cooper Amari Cooper (born June 17, 1994) is an American professional American football, football wide receiver. He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide football, Alabama Crimson Tide, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top rec ...

, to take over the number one receiver role, which also limited Thompson's targets moving forward. He was released on November 9.

Buffalo Bills (third stint)

Thompson was signed by the Bills on November 14, 2018. He was declared inactive with a toe injury in the season finale against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

New York Jets

Thompson was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

on May 21, 2019. He was released on August 31, 2019.

References

External links

Florida Gators bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Deonte 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Belle Glade, Florida Track and field athletes from Florida American football wide receivers Florida Gators football players Florida Gators men's track and field athletes Baltimore Ravens players Buffalo Bills players Chicago Bears players Dallas Cowboys players New York Jets players