Round 6 – Pick 214 – Darwin Thompson – RB – Utah State
Anticipated impact as a rookie: 4.9
Long term upside: 7.7
Overall excitement for the pick: 7.1
Darwin Thompson had the biggest range in scores of all the draft picks in this class. There was at least a five point difference from Thompson’s highest score to his lowest in all three categories. The staff was pretty much in agreement that Thompson will have a hard time having too big of role as a rookie with Damien Williams and Carlos Hyde ahead of him on the depth chart. However, the long term upside and overall excitement on Thompson is a little less unanimous.
"Thompson is a change of pace back for the Chiefs. Now, they have a great receiving back that can play on third down and provide incredible speed to the backfield. -Grant Tuttle"
"Thompson has potential, but he will likely need to improve his athleticism first. -Thomas Welte"
My two cents: While I respect the opinions of all my fellow AA staff members I couldn’t disagree more with those that aren’t excited about Darwin Thompson. This was the other pick (along with Juan Thornhill) that I was absolutely thrilled with. Thompson was also on my “All Draft Crush Team” for this draft class and I couldn’t have been more excited to land him with the last pick in the sixth round. I truly believe that Thompson will carve out a nice roll in Andy Reid’s offense and that all Chiefs fans will fall in love with him once they see him in action.