Taylor 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 with ...

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. Like ...

for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

of the

National Football League (NFL) 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 ma ...

. He was drafted by the Titans in the fifth round (pick 145 overall) of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He was released during minicamps on June 18, 2015. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Southern Methodist , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , pro ...

Early years

Thompson attended

Prosper High School Prosper High School is a class 6A public high school in Prosper, Texas, United States. It is part of Prosper Independent School District located in western Collin County, with a small portion of the district extending into Denton County. In ad ...

, where he was a multi-sport athlete excelling in Basketball, Baseball, Track and Football. Following his Junior year, Thompson was rated as a three-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 ...

and

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. His senior year he was selected to the Texas All-State Team, both a

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. Like ...

and Defensive end. He was also selected to Dave Campbell's Super Team, ranked as the No. 1 tight end in Texas for the 2008 class, and All-Texas High School Team.

College career

Under head coach

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 19 ...

, Thompson was a 4-year starter at SMU. In his Sophomore season, he was awarded honorable mention All-C-USA following the season. He was selected to the First Team All-C-USA his junior and senior year. Thompson is currently ranked 6th all-time at SMU for sacks recorded, with 18.

Professional career

The

selected Thompson in the fifth round (145th overall). He was the eighth tight end selected during the

. Under head coach

Mike Munchak Michael Anthony Munchak (born March 5, 1960) is an American professional football coach and former player. A graduate of Penn State, Munchak played left guard for the Houston Oilers from 1982 until 1993 and was a nine-time selection to the Pro B ...

, Thompson joined tight ends Craig Stevens and

Jared Cook Jared Alan Cook (born April 7, 1987) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at the University of South Carolina and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He has ...

. During his time in Tennessee, Thompson made multiple contributions on offense as well as special teams. In 2014, Thompson received his first NFL touchdown from quarterback

Ryan Fitzpatrick Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. During his career, Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine different teams, the most ...

. In 2015, the Titans waived Thompson during summer mini-camps following a right knee injury.

References

External links

*
Tennessee Titans bio

1989 births Living people American football defensive ends American football tight ends People from Prosper, Texas Players of American football from Texas SMU Mustangs football players Sportspeople from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Tennessee Titans players {{Tightend-1980s-stub