Jordan Thompson (born July 12, 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

. He played college football at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

and attended Parkway High School in

Rockford, Ohio Rockford is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The village is on the St. Mary's River near the center of the western Ohio border 12 miles Northwest of Celina. The population was 1,120 at the 2010 census. The village was founded ...

. He has been a member of the Detroit Lions of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

College career

Thompson played for the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Ame ...

from 2009 to 2012. He was

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 ...

in 2008.

Professional career

Thompson was rated the 54th best tight end in the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

by NFLDraftScout.com. Thompson was signed by the Detroit Lions on April 28, 2014. He was released by the Lions on August 30, 2014, and signed to the team's practice squad on September 1, 2014. He made his NFL debut on October 19, 2014, against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was released by the Lions on May 4, 2016. He participated in

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

in 2017.

Life after football

Thompson is now a carpenter on the HGTV show, ''

While You Were Out ''While You Were Out'' is an American reality series that aired episodes on the cable channel TLC. The format of the show is similar to TLC's ''Trading Spaces'' (which, in turn, is based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''). ''While You We ...

''.

References

Living people 1989 births American football tight ends Ohio Bobcats football players Detroit Lions players Players of American football from Ohio People from Mercer County, Ohio The Spring League players {{Tightend-1980s-stub