Tyrus Thompson (born November 17, 1991) 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 ...

offensive tackle. He played college football at Oklahoma. He was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Early years

Thompson attended

Pflugerville High School Pflugerville High School is a public high school located in Pflugerville, Texas. In 2017, the school was a Top-10 Finalist in Reader's Digest ''Nicest Places in America'' contest. Athletics List of sports * Baseball * Basketball, Boys * Baske ...

Pflugerville, Texas Pflugerville ( ) is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States, with a small portion in Williamson County. The population was 65,191 at the 2020 census. Pflugerville is a suburb of Austin and part of the Austin–Round Rock–San Ma ...

, where he was a two-sport star in both football and track. He was regarded as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the No. 18 offensive tackle in the nation by

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and

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. Overall, he was considered the No. 164 overall player by ''Rivals'' and No. 133 by

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. Also a standout in

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, Thompson was one of the state's top performers in the throwing events with personal-bests of 16.96 meters (55-6.25) in the shot put and 42.58 meters (139-7) in the discus.

College career

Thompson attended the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

and played college football under head coach Bob Stoops.

Professional career

Thompson was projected to be selected in the fourth or fifth round by the majority of scouts and NFL draft experts.

Minnesota Vikings

Thompson was drafted by the Vikings in the sixth round, 185th overall, in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was placed on injured reserve on September 6, 2015. He was released on September 18, 2015.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Thompson was signed to the Jaguars' practice squad on September 18, 2015.

Detroit Lions

Thompson signed with the Lions on November 10, 2016. He was released on May 9, 2016.

New Orleans Saints

On May 16, 2016, Thompson signed with the Saints. He was placed on injured reserve on September 4, 2016. He was released on October 10, 2016.

Carolina Panthers

On November 29, 2016, Thompson was signed to the Panthers' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Panthers on January 2, 2017. He was waived on August 12, 2017.

Seattle Seahawks

On August 21, 2017, Thompson signed with the Seattle Seahawks. His contract expired on January 4, 2018.

Personal life

Thompson is the son of Raymond and Yolanda Thompson. He was born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

while his father was stationed abroad as a

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. He chose his jersey number in honor of the year his mother was born. He has two siblings Kaela Thompson and Breya Thompson.

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bio
1991 births Living people People from Pasadena, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football offensive tackles Oklahoma Sooners football players Minnesota Vikings players Jacksonville Jaguars players Detroit Lions players New Orleans Saints players Carolina Panthers players Seattle Seahawks players Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas {{Offensive-lineman-1990s-stub