Shaq Thompson

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Marlton Bills said:

for your viewing pleasure…

That is a beautiful thing.  He hit him with the Goldberg spear.

[LABILLBACKER]

Shaq played well and made a couple big hits.  Considering Matt's age and injury history,  I'm in no hurry rushing him back.  Shaq should do just fine, especially if we stay in the 4-3 more than previous years. 

[TBBills Fan]

On 9/19/2025 at 8:57 PM, BuffaloBillyG said:

So now we're ok with ex-Panthers?

 

 

Just wait til he makes a mistake, it will be said by someone "washed up former Panther"

[Buffalo Boy]

   I applauded the pickup when he first signed and I expected and expect good things. He plays with his knowledge and understanding as much as his instincts. He is a one of our better linebackers and as a depth piece he is the best we have.

    Ah, remember the Klein days😮

    

[boyst]

I've been delaying this because of lack of time to go back in my memory and look into the Panthers.

 

Thompson was an all American safety in high school, sub 11sec 100m dash sprinter, and excellent baseball player. He went to college at Washington starting as a safety, then some nickel, then primarily linebacker. He is 6' and about 230. I know for the panthers many said he was a big undersized but he was the same size as Keuchly and Davis. He moved heavy and big, too. In the panthers scheme, as one would imagine, he was used to disguise coverage.

 

Due to the abilities of Thomas Davis and Shaq Thompson either would rotate to Sam or Will. Sometimes one would play coverage as the nickel, often times this was Thompson. The panthers would play quarters, halves (similar to Tampa 2), and schemes to cover the deficit of their boundary corner and safeties in their zone coverage. This could be done with Keuchly able to control the a and b gaps while performing pass pro responsibilities. He was amazing, as we should all know. The panthers pass rush was adequate, not stellar but in their 4-3 front they generated the pressure to perform successfully as a unit.

 

With davis or Thompson taking responsibility for the will coverage you couldn't see what exactly the defense was going to do. They didn't tip their hands and their blitzes were well disguised. Davis excelled at reading and reacting instantly on the outside in pass coverage in small spaces. Due to his speed and this quickness in reaction he made big areas and windows very small.  Thompson could do similar but generally had the bigger field with more range to cover as he played will more often than Sam. 

 

Thompson is impressive in coverage for keeping his head on a swivel to see everything in front of him and the ability to recognize the game processing it quickly. He struggles with the hip turn and drop to reposition himself to deep fielding cover. This was an issue for him at safety, as well. Panthers fans knew he wouldn't be a great safety because he couldn't recover. Similar to Rapp when he bites the wrong way. 

 

His ability to play nickel let's him use his underappreciated size, because he is rather small, to make a big presence. He performs at a smaller size what we all expected Tremaine Edmunds to do.

 

Thompsons tenure with this team will allow us to do many interesting things. The hope I have is that it lets us keep Taron off the field when we know he won't be needed to avoid wear and tear.

[ngbills]

Savvy vet. A little slow but solid back up. 

[warrior9]

On 9/19/2025 at 8:39 PM, GASabresIUFan said:

How about lets not anoint him the second coming until he plays at least 1 or 2 more games.   

You probably SUCK to be around at parties. Holy cow. 

 

It's a football thread and literally no one is anointing him anything. They are literally saying he played better than we expected and that he may get more reps now (as he seemingly earned them and outplayed Dorian)

[NewEra]

On 9/19/2025 at 7:39 PM, GASabresIUFan said:

How about lets not anoint him the second coming until he plays at least 1 or 2 more games.   

Did you even read any of the posts in the thread?