The Arizona Cardinals believed going into last season they had a great safety pairing in Budda Baker and D.J. Swearinger. It wasn’t so, as Swearinger struggled and was cut early in the year after poor play. That forced the Cardinals to use two rookies — fifth-round pick Deionte Thompson and supplemental pick Jalen Thompson.
The two split snaps but after Deionte got injured, Jalen took over the rest of the season. He finished the season with 57 tackles, an interception and three pass breakups.
The Cardinals did not sign another safety in the offseason who would presumably compete with him for the job. That is because the Cardinals believe in him.
“He is definitely the answer for us right now at the safety position,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told reporters after practice this past week.
The Cardinals had the league’s worst pass defense in 2019 but Joseph noticed something once Thompson was put in the lineup full-time.
“When he played, we got better,” he said. “We gave up a lot of big plays last year through the middle of the defense early on. When that kid played, those plays stopped happening. They went from being 40-yard gains to 15-yard gains.”
There were two things that stood out to Joseph — the speed with which Thompson played, especially considering the fact he did not get to spend the offseason with the team because he was added to the roster in the supplemental draft in July, and his tackling ability.
“He made plays on the ball as far as the coverage guy, but the best thing he did was tackle,” Joseph explained. “He tackled some of the best backs in this league one-on-one open field and that’s tough to do. If a safety has that trait, he can play a long time.”
He enters 2020 the clear starter at safety alongside Pro Bowler Budda Baker.
Being his second year in the defense and his second year in the pros, he should improve even more and the Cardinals could have the type of safety play from Week 1 they believed they would have last season.
[vertical-gallery id=442605]
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Latest show:
Previous shows:
[protected-iframe id=”b982993d8c20b3c1204a481770f7fbae-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/29016811/download.mp3″ ]
and
[protected-iframe id=”682ebb6e7ef6b83ea73b8875d2f5241d-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/27243565/download.mp3″ ]