B.J. Thompson update: Chiefs defender is 'headed in the right direction'

Here's all the latest that we know about Kansas City Chiefs defensive end B.J. Thompson

Friday afternoon update

More good news emerged about Thompson's condition on Friday afternoon with officials saying he'd taken out of sedation after being in stable condition overnight.

On Friday afternoon, Chiefs head trainer Rick Burkholder held a press conference to detail what exactly happened. Here's what took place on Thursday during a special teams meeting.

"With B.J., when he had a seizure, Butker immediately ran toward the training room and grabbed Julie Frymeier and David Gover and then grabbed me. We eventually went into the room and Tiffany Morton and Evan Craft came in as well as with this facility, we have a doctor’s office down the hall and J.P. Darche from Kansas University Health System was there. He came up ans assisted.

"As a team, we tried to stabilize B.J. and then put him on the floor while he was still seizing. Then he went into cardiac arrest, so our team of that group of people provided CPR for him. He had one AED shock and came back so he was only in cardiac arrest for less than a minute or minute-and-a-half.

"Our players, our security staff, everybody involved, the coaches’ staff—everybody was phenomenal in handling the crisis. We then turned him over to KC fire department and paramedics. "

Burkholder went on to say that he's now awake and alert and doing quite well. He also admitted that no one has a medical diagnosis yet for why things happened to Thompson or how or when they did. But he did close with the line, "He's headed in the right direction."

Friday morning update

One day after being taken away by ambulance from Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Chiefs defensive end B.J. Thompson remains in "stable" condition, per a report from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

Fowler checked in with Thompson's agent on Friday morning and received word that the second-year lineman remained unconscious but that things were looking up. NFL reporter Tom Pelissero added a quote from a source saying "his vitals are good."

Thompson, a second-year pass rusher, went into cardiac arrest on Thursday after suffering a seizure.

The Chiefs are in the midst of Phase 3 of their offseason training activities and were scheduled to practice on Thursday. However, Thompson suffered a seizure in a meeting and was subsequently taken to the hospital after going into cardiac arrest.

The Chiefs rescheduled practice for Friday and canceled Thursday's session.

The Chiefs held their charity softball game on Thursday as well and took a moment of silence to pray for Thompson's health and recovery.

Thompson, who is 23 years old, was a fifth-round pick of the Chiefs back in the 2023 NFL Draft. A small-school pass rusher out of Stephen F. Austin, Thompson provided the Chiefs with a developmental prospect at a position that needed some long-term help.

We'll keep this story updated with further comments from Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and more details as they come in.