Entering the 2020 season, the Arizona Cardinals have gotten attention for their free agent additions on defense, for drafting linebacker Isaiah Simmons and for trading for receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
All are expected to be key contributors.
But of the players on the roster, who is the most underrated? Who will be an important piece of the Cardinals’ success but hasn’t gotten much attention.
According to Pro Football Focus, who gave the most underrated player for all 32 NFL teams, that player is safety Jalen Thompson for the Cardinals.
We only have one season of NFL data on Thompson — a partial season at that after he didn’t see the field until Week 5. But what he did as a rookie (particularly late in the year), combined with what we saw from Thompson at the college level, offers plenty of reason for excitement about his prospects moving forward. Coming out of Washington State, PFF’s lead draft analyst Mike Renner said of Thompson, “Coverage is king in today’s NFL, and Thompson brings an intriguing mix of slot and deep coverage ability that will be coveted by two-high heavy defenses.”
Thompson spent most of his time as a rookie deep at free safety, but he showed some of that coverage ability with a 70.3 coverage grade that ranked third among rookie safeties last season (behind only Juan Thornhill and Darnell Savage). He’s not even 22 years old yet — his continued development will be key on a defense that hopes to be much better in coverage in 2020.
Thompson quietly developed into a promising player and he didn’t even join the team until July after he was selected in the supplemental draft. His play down the stretch was good enough for the Cardinals to not sign any safety who was not previously with the team.
If he plays the entire season the way he played late in 2019, the Cardinals will have a very productive safety tandem with him and Pro Bowler Budda Baker.
The Cardinals were atrocious in pass defense a season ago. Thompson can help improve that.
[vertical-gallery id=438382]
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
Ep. 267
[protected-iframe id=”682ebb6e7ef6b83ea73b8875d2f5241d-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/27243565/download.mp3″ ]
Ep. 266
[protected-iframe id=”bcb747d5fc8df3747b9f1187680b5056-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/26365268/download.mp3″ ]