A fifth round compensatory pick ended up being one of the biggest hits of the past several drafts for Steve Keim.
That was how good Jalen Thompson was in 2019 and the expectations for 2020 should be higher, yet he is kind of the forgotten man for the Arizona Cardinals this offseason.
That is why when Pro Football Focus listed the most underrated player on each team, Thompson took the honor for the Cardinals.
From PFF:
Coverage is king in today’s NFL, and Thompson brings an intriguing mix of slot and deep coverage ability that will be coveted by two-high heavy defenses.”
Thompson spent most of his time as a rookie deep at free safety, but he showed some of that coverage ability with a 70.3 coverage grade that ranked third among rookie safeties last season (behind only Juan Thornhill and Darnell Savage).
Thompson gave the Cardinals their best coverage grade of any starter in 2019 (Chris Jones was slightly higher but did not play enough snaps to qualify). Yet, he is a guy that has gotten maybe the least amount of pub for the Cardinals in an offseason full of attention.
Maybe this is a nice reminder that the Cardinals have some young talent that has performed and hopefully will continue to get better moving forward.