Brandon Thompson (born October 19, 1989) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

defensive tackle. He played college football at Clemson and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Early years

Thompson attended

Thomasville High School Thomasville High School is a public secondary school located in Thomasville, Georgia, United States. It is one of only a handful of city school systems left in the state of Georgia. It is considered by the Georgia High School Association to be a ...

Thomasville, Georgia Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany. The city deems itself the "City of Roses" an ...

. As a senior, he had 19 sacks and 61

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

. Regarded as a four-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Thompson was listed as the ninth best defensive tackle prospect of his class.

College career

Thompson was originally

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman in 2008, but had the redshirt taken off after an injury to Jamie Cumbie. He played in the team's final 12 games and recorded 15 tackles and a sack. As a sophomore in 2009, he started all 13 games and had 27 tackles. As a junior in 2010, he had 41 tackles and a sack.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Thompson was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round, 93rd overall, in the 2012 NFL Draft. In 2013, he played in all 16 regular-season games, starting the last seven games, which included the Wild Card playoff game, where he replaced the injured

Geno Atkins Gene "Geno" Raynard Atkins Jr. (born March 28, 1988) is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football at Georgia, and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Atkins ...

. On March 25, 2016, Thompson signed a one-year contract with the Bengals that will keep him through the 2016 season. He was placed on the Reserve/PUP list to start the season after he suffered a torn ACL in Week 17 of the 2015 season. Since he spent the entire season on reserve, his contract tolled, keeping him under contract for the 2017 season. On August 20, 2017, Thompson was released by the Bengals.

Cleveland Browns

On August 22, 2017, Thompson was signed by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

. He was released on September 1, 2017, during roster cutdowns.

References

External links

Cincinnati Bengals bio
*
Clemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Brandon 1989 births Living people American football defensive tackles Clemson Tigers football players Cincinnati Bengals players Cleveland Browns players Players of American football from Thomasville, Georgia