Jalen Thompson joins young secondary as Arizona Cardinals look to develop and stockpile talent

It was only a couple of seasons ago that the Arizona Cardinals secondary was the toast of the NFL.

You had Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Jerraud Powers, Rashad Johnson, D.J. Swearinger and Tony Jefferson.

To say it was an embarrassment of riches would be an understatement.

It took three seasons for that to fall apart and Steve Keim has made it a priority to put it back together.

They have Patrick Peterson, about to sit the first six games of the 2019 NFL season, Robert Alford was signed to a three-year deal, D.J. Swearinger is back, Budda Baker is going back to his playmaking position and they just drafted Byron Murphy.

Add to that they added Deionte Thompson, a player lauded as a second round talent in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Now, they grab Jalen Thompson to add to the squad.

Thompson profiles to a similar role to that of Budda Baker or Tyrann Mathieu, maybe not the playmaker of Mathieu, but he plays a similar style of ball.

From our own Walter Mitchell:

Having him as a nickel option could free up Byron Murphy for other matchups, he fits Vance Joseph’s safety mold very well, due to his versatility.

If the Cardinals have a player who can play in different roles in the secondary, it gives them options.

Something they had in 2015 and lacked in 2017 and 2018.

Adding versatility to go along with a solid style of play is a nice get for the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round.

Maybe they struck gold twice this offseason.