The Kansas City Chiefs recently added a new piece to their secondary, signing former Seattle Seahawks safety Tedric Thompson.
The 25-year-old safety was brought in after Juan Thornhill was placed on the PUP list. While he’s working hard, getting adjusted to his new team and learning the playbook, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was apprehensive to give an evaluation of Thompson. Spags did, however, outline some expectations for Thompson moving forward.
“It’s a little bit early,” Spagnuolo began. “I’m big on making the assessments in full pads. So, we’ve had three of them and for those guys, there hasn’t been a lot of reps. It took Tedric [Thompson] a little bit to get going, so he’s been in and out. The one thing we have to do is get Tedric with the first group, so we can see how he functions with those guys. It’s unfair sometimes when you’re in there with guys that don’t know the system just like you don’t, but he’s working hard.”
Once he masters the defense a little more, Spags wants to see Thompson get some work with the first-team defense. So far he’s been working primarily with the second-team alongside Armani Watts, while taking limited repetitions with the first team in sub-packages.
The biggest adjustment that Thompson has dealt with at training camp in Kansas City is the tempo. Andy Reid is known to run a tough training camp and the Chiefs are known to work hard, but the speed of the offensive players seems to have caught Thompson by surprise.
“I think Andy Reid’s camp is just different from the tempo, from the speed, the offense,” Thompson told reporters. “You’re going against Tyreek Hill, you’re going against all receivers who run 4.2’s, 4.1’s so I feel like the tempo is just so up-tempo. You’re running from one spot to another and so I think that’s the biggest thing. The guys here are about their business trying to get a second [championship] so I think that’s the biggest thing, camp is just like a workaholic camp for everybody working.”
Just as Spags explained, Thompson still getting used to his new environment. He’s dealing with a new tempo, learning the playbook and getting comfortable working with his teammates. He’s working hard, but he’s not quite to the point where he’s being worked in with the first group on the regular. That day could be coming soon if we’re to take Spags’ comments at face value.
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