Chiefs add another dynamic weapon in Darwin Thompson

The Kansas City Chiefs selected running back Darwin Thompson out of Utah State in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, 214th overall.

With the rocket-armed Patrick Mahomes under center, the Chiefs are focussing on adding more speed to their offense.

Kansas City moved up to select Mecole Hardman, a receiver with 4.3-second 40-yard dash speed, in the second round, and Thompson possesses similarly devasting big-play abilities out of the backfield.

School: Utah State
Height: 5-8
Weight: 198 lbs

Strengths

• Big-play machine who can score from anywhere on the field
• Consistently leaves defenders grasping at tackles with rare elusiveness
• Speed to beat defenders to the edge and pull away in the open field
• Explosiveness displayed in the way he hits the hole and gets upfield
• Shows impressive balance through contact to bounce off tacklers and fight for extra yards
• Flashes some physicality when finishing runs
• Comfortable and productive receiver out of the backfield
• Willing pass-protector

Weaknesses

• Would be significantly undersized as workhorse running back in NFL
• Won't have required strength to hold up against bigger players in pass protection
• Played only one year of Division I

Bottom line

As the NFL continues to trend more toward an open offensive game, we're finally seeing more willingness to evolve and move away from positional prototypes. That's where a player like Thompson fits in. He's undersized both in terms of height and weight, but he's an absolute nightmare in the open field. If a team can create a Tarik Cohen-like role for him within its offense, there's no reason why Thompson can't become that kind of playmaker at the next level.

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