Jalen Thompson – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Cardinals S Jalen Thompson to IR; out at least 3 weeks

The Cardinals add Curtis Riley to the active roster, signing him off the Steelers practice squad.

The Arizona Cardinals will be without one of their defensive starters for at least three weeks. Safety Jalen Thompson, who left the season opener after the second play of the game with an ankle injury, was placed on injured reserve.

Because of new rules about IR in the NFL this year, he is able to come back after a minimum of three weeks and there is no limit to the number of players a team can bring back from injured reserve.

Thompson had one tackle in the opener, getting hurt on the play.

With Thompson now out, fellow second-year safety Deionte Thompson likely will slide into the starting lineup.

The Cardinals also announced the addition of another safety to the roster. They signed safety Curtis Riley off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad. It was a signing reported earlier in the week.

Riley is in his sixth NFL season.

He has been in the league since 2015 when he entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Fresno State. He has played for the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and the then Oakland Raiders.

He was a starter in 2018 for the Giants, starting all 16 games. He had 75 tackles and four interceptions. He plays a lot on special teams.

Riley gives them another option off the bench and also special teams depth if the Cardinals decide to use Chris Banjo in the starting lineup instead of Deionte Thompson.

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Week 2 injury report: 6 Cardinals do not practice on Wednesday

Mason Cole and Jalen Thompson were among those who did not participate in practice on Wednesday.

The Arizona Cardinals began their week of practice in Week 2 much more banged up than they began the season in Week 1. They released their injury report from Wednesday and six players did not participate in the first practice of the week.

Four were because of injuries. Receivers Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins did not participate but simply were given the day off, something that has been the practice for years for Fitzgerald.

Starting center Mason Cole, who left the game on Sunday with a hamstring injury, was one who did not practice. Likewise, safety Jalen Thompson, who apparently injured his ankle on the second play of the game, also sat out.

Tight end Maxx Williams also sat out with an ankle injury, which limited him in practice last week.

Finally, reserve outside linebacker Kylie Fitts sat out with a hand injury.

Rookie tackle Josh Jones, who did not practice at all last week with an ankle injury, was able to get limited work for the first time.

Did not participate

OL Mason Cole (hamstring)
OLB Kylie Fitts (hand)
WR Larry Fitzgerald (rest)
WR DeAndre Hopkins (rest)
S Jalen Thompson (ankle)
TE Maxx Williams (ankle)

Limited

OL Josh Jones (ankle)

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Report: Cardinals sign S Curtis Riley off Steelers practice squad

This could signal that Jalen Thompson will miss some time with his ankle injury.

The Arizona Cardinals appear to be preparing to have their depth at safety tested. Starting safety Jalen Thompson suffered an ankle injury after only two plays of the team’s 24-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers and did not return.

It is possible he will not be able to play for a bit and the team has reportedly added a safety to the roster.

According to NFL Draft Diamonds, they have signed safety Curtis Riley off the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Riley also changed his Instagram account bio to show he is an Arizona Cardinals safety with No. 35.

Riley was one of the Steelers’ protected practice squad players for Week 1.

He has been in the league since 2015 when he entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Fresno State. He has played for the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and the thean Oakland Raiders.

He was a starter in 2018 for the Giants, starting all 16 games. He had 75 tackles and four interceptions. He plays a lot on special teams.

The Cardinals have not announced any signing, but if Thompson’s ankle injury is serious enough, he could be placed on injured reserve, which would mean he would be out at least three weeks.

Cardinals hopeful Mason Cole, Jalen Thompson won’t be out too long with injuries

Both left the game in Week 1 with injuries and did not return to action. Cole hurt his hamstring, while Thompson has an ankle injury.

The Arizona Cardinals had two starters go down with injuries in their 24-20 Week 1 over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Starting safety Jalen Thompson injured his ankle on the second play of the game and starting center Mason Cole exited in the first half with a hamstring injury.

Neither player was able to return to the game. Thompson played only two snaps, while Cole played 36.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury did not give much of an update on Monday when he spoke with reporters.

“Still working through it on those two guys, with Mason and J.T.,” he said. “Hopefully not too long, but we’ll see tomorrow where that is at.”

If they have to miss time and potentially the Cardinals’ Week 2 game at home against the Washington Football Team, Lamont Gaillard would get the start at center.

At safety, it would probably be Deionte Thompson who would get the start. Thompson was inactive on Sunday against the 49ers and Chris Banjo played 58 defensive snaps after Jalen Thompson exited the game. Kingsbury praised Banjo’s play. He is a backup at both safety positions and plays a lot on special teams. But he would likely slide back into that backup and special teams role if Jalen has to miss time.

The first injury report of the week won’t come out until Wednesday.

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Cardinals S Jalen Thompson leaves game with ankle injury

He was ruled questionable to return.

The Arizona Cardinals have already suffered an injury on defense. In the opening drive of the game, starting safety Jalen Thompson had to leave with an ankle injury.

The team announced it and indicated his return to the game is questionable.

Thompson, who was selected by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the supplemental draft in 2019, was being counted on to play alongside Budda Baker.

In his absence, Chris Banjo was forced to play. He was in on the third-down stop before the 49ers’ 52-yard field goal to take the lead in the game.

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2nd-year pro Jalen Thompson ‘definitely the answer’ for Cardinals at safety

“When he played, we got better,” said defensive coordinator Vance Joseph of the second-year safety.

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.

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4 position battles for starting jobs to watch for the Cardinals

The starting lineup is mostly set, but right tackle, defensive end, inside linebacker and safety all will have competition to start.

The Arizona Cardinals mostly have a starting lineup on offense and defense set, but not every spot is completely secured. Here are the starting jobs that will be a battle as minicamp takes place (sometime) and training camp begins later this summer.

RT: Marcus Gilbert vs. Justin Murray vs. Josh Jones

Gilbert is the favorite to start, as he was the starter last year until he tore his ACL, he has the most experience and is arguably the best lineman they have.

However, his injury history screams at you that he can’t be trusted to be the guy, as he has only played 12 games in the last three seasons.

Murray gained the praise of his coach and general manager, while the team is super high on Jones, a steal in the third round of the draft. He wants to play right away.

This could be fun to watch.

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Jalen Thompson named Cardinals’ most underrated player for 2020

He played well enough down the stretch for the Cardinals to stand pat at safety this offseason.

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.

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Ep. 267

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Ep. 266

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Cardinals DC Vance Joseph expecting ‘huge steps’ from 2nd-year defensive backs

Byron Murphy, Jalen Thompson and Deionte Thompson all should be better after playing a lot as rookies.

The Arizona Cardinals played 2019 relying on a three rookie defensive backs for much of the season — cornerback Byron Murphy and safeties Jalen Thompson and Deionte Thompson. The defense will have starting cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Robert Alford returning to play a full season, but with no new additions made to the defensive secondary in free agency or the draft, these now second-year players will be counted on to be major contributors.

“I’m looking forward to those guys taking huge steps,” defensive coordinator Vane Joseph said in a video conference last week.

He spoke about each of the three players.

Byron Murphy

Joseph noted Murphy played more than any rookie defensive back last season. “That’s going to pay dividends,” he said.

“Last year I thought he got run down a little bit,” he explained. “He played his best ball early and kind of sluffed off late. But I think what he did last year as far as playing that many reps is going to benefit him this year.”

Murphy had 78 tackles, one interception and 10 pass breakups.

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Cardinals offseason positional outlook: Safeties

A look back at 2019 and ahead at the offseason questions the Cardinals have at safety and what could be coming at the position.

We have nearly reached the end of our offseason positional reviews. Now we look at the group of safeties, which was believed to be a strength, then was a liability and then developed again into a strength.

We will go over what happened in 2019, address offseason questions and discuss what is coming at the position in 2020.

2019 review

When the season began, safety was supposed to be a position of strength. With Budda Baker and veteran D.J. Swearinger, it was supposed to be enough to help weather the issues at cornerback with Patrick Peterson’s suspension and Robert Alford’s broken leg.

Swearinger’s play completely fell off. He was cut after four games it was so bad. That left rookies Deionte Thompson and Jalen Thompson to play.

They split time until Jalen eventually became an every-down player and looks like he could be a starter moving forward.

Baker earned a Pro Bowl starter berth after leading the NFL in solo tackles.

By the end of the season, it was the defense’s best position group.

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