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.
Prospect profile
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.
