Brenen Thompson, WR, Mississippi St. (Rd 4 #105)

[Javia]

Thompson:4.26
KLS: 4.37
Mitchell: 4.37
Ladd: 4.38
Omarion: 4.46


Far cry from the Telesco era of not having sub 4.5 guys on offense ... except for TT in a weird mood taking a 7th round flyer on one guy.

The best part is that it's not just the WRs and RBs, our QB and OLs(outside of Biadasz) are all premium athletes now. They are gonna wear defenses out by the end of the game. It's going to be fun.

[Heatmiser]

Forgot Vidal is 4.46 too

I know he was timed there. Does it seem like he plays that fast? Hampton, on the breakaway against the Giants showed me he has serious speed. Vidal always seems to get caught? Unfair?

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Given the horrific state of the O-line, I think what Vidall accomplished last year was phenomenal.

With ACTUAL blocking this year, we'll get a read on how well he cuts back, takes advantage of lanes, and sets up MORE blocks downfield.

But all things considered, I was impressed.

[sonorajim]

The best part is that it's not just the WRs and RBs, our QB and OLs(outside of Biadasz) are all premium athletes now. They are gonna wear defenses out by the end of the game. It's going to be fun.

Huh? Biadasz was #8 of 32 NFL starting Centers. Better than most. All Chargers OL are running more than in the past, and more than most NFL OL this off season. Tiring D's out with a strong ground game is one of our goals. Get a solid lead and drain the clock in the 4th.

[Javia]

Huh? Biadasz was #8 of 32 NFL starting Centers. Better than most. All Chargers OL are running more than in the past, and more than most NFL OL this off season. Tiring D's out with a strong ground game is one of our goals. Get a solid lead and drain the clock in the 4th.

All of Slater, Penning, Slaughter, Strange and Alt are in the 99th percentile in RelativeAthleticScore. That's premium athleticism for an OL. I didn't include Biadasz only because he doesn't have a RAS.

[sonorajim]

All of Slater, Penning, Slaughter, Strange and Alt are in the 99th percentile in RelativeAthleticScore. That's premium athleticism for an OL. I didn't include Biadasz only because he doesn't have a RAS.

Gotcha. RAS is a good reference point when it favors us. In games I'll be looking for low # QB hits/sacks and more Rush YPG. Stats we need major improvement in.

[Fouts2herbert]

It is not as if Atwell is a bust, like lets say Xavier Worthy.
Here are Atwell's stats with the Rams, his 2nd & 3rd year:

2024 2024	Rams	42 42	562 562	13.4 13.4
2023 2023	Rams	39 39	483 483	12.4 12.4

I would take those numbers this year for Thompson.

* Atwell is even smaller than Thompson: 5'8'' and 3/4rths and 158 pounds. So that is about 6 pounds, and a half a foot in height.

* I read somewhere that Thompson is really strong - impressive in the weight room.

* Thompson has a catch radius, which isn't true for someone like Derrius Davis, or Tutu.

We will see.

.

If Thompson was a half a foot taller than Atwell he would be 6'2"

I'm okay with not calling Atwell a bust, that's fine, but investing the #57 overall pick on a guy that only spends 4 forgettable years on your roster and then moves on to another team for his second contract is less than ideal...like I said, if Thompson has a similar trajectory as the one Atwell had, then at the very least he was drafted in the early in day three of the draft and not in the first half of the second day of the draft...Thompson was drafted almost 50 spots later than Atwell...

On a side note, I think Thompson is a better prospect than Atwell was...had the rams drafted Thompson at #57 in the draft that Atwell was drafted I probably wouldn't have thought it was as bad of reach as what I thought Atwell was...

[Heatmiser]

Given the horrific state of the O-line, I think what Vidall accomplished last year was phenomenal.

With ACTUAL blocking this year, we'll get a read on how well he cuts back, takes advantage of lanes, and sets up MORE blocks downfield.

But all things considered, I was impressed.

Agree. The blessing of Hampton getting hurt is we got to see how good Vidal can be. I admit I had given up on him. I was wrong.

[powderblueboy]

If Thompson was a half a foot taller than Atwell he would be 6'2"

I'm okay with not calling Atwell a bust, that's fine, but investing the #57 overall pick on a guy that only spends 4 forgettable years on your roster and then moves on to another team for his second contract is less than ideal...like I said, if Thompson has a similar trajectory as the one Atwell had, then at the vei ry least he was drafted in the early in day three of the draft and not in the first half of the second day of the draft...Thompson was drafted almost 50 spots later than Atwell...

On a side note, I think Thompson is a better prospect than Atwell was...had the rams drafted Thompson at #57 in the draft that Atwell was drafted I probably wouldn't have thought it was as bad of reach as what I thought Atwell was...

i meant half an inch. .. of course.

[Fouts2herbert]

i meant half an inch. .. of course.

what you meant to say was that Thompson is a bigger player, but half an inch and 6 pounds is not helping your argument, the difference between 5' 8 3/4" and 5' 9 1/4" and six pounds more might be significant in boxing, but in the context of the NFL, both players are in a very small class of players unto themselves, pun intended...Thompson is not significantly larger than Atwell to even discuss it seriously as way of predicting how his 165 pound frame is going to hold up in the NFL...food for thought, Atwell, the former #57 overall player, playing the premium position of WR and going into what should be his prime, he signed a one year contract with the dolphins worth a whopping $1.4 mil with $1mil guaranteed, the NFL has not been kind to these smaller guys...

Brenden needs to understand how much bigger and faster the players that are going to be tackling him will be, he needs to avoid contact at all costs...slide, run out of bounds, whatever...there is just not that much room of error with these smaller guys...last year when we played the Chiefs, Travis Kelce accidentally targeted his own WR Worthy who is also in the 165 pound range and Worthy got wrecked and missed the rest of the game and I believe a few games after that, later in that game when Derwin fucked up the larger WR Rice, Rice missed some plays but returned to the game but he's 6' 1" and 203 pounds, almost 40 pounds heavier than Worthy and Thompson...

I think the odds are against Thompson having a long career but you never know and from what I've read he's a bit of a freak, he's freakishly strong for his size and that could also be an indication of higher muscle and bone density...if they can get him to add a bit more mass it would go a long way towards extending his career, even 10 pounds would make a huge difference...get him to 175-180 and he would still be the fastest guy on the Chargers...

[powderblueboy]

what you meant to say was that Thompson is a bigger player, but half an inch and 6 pounds is not helping your argument, the difference between 5' 8 3/4" and 5' 9 1/4" and six pounds more might be significant in boxing, but in the context of the NFL, both players are in a very small class of players unto themselves, pun intended...Thompson is not significantly larger than Atwell to even discuss it seriously as way of predicting how his 165 pound frame is going to hold up in the NFL...food for thought, Atwell, the former #57 overall player, playing the premium position of WR and going into what should be his prime, he signed a one year contract with the dolphins worth a whopping $1.4 mil with $1mil guaranteed, the NFL has not been kind to these smaller guys...

Brenden needs to understand how much bigger and faster the players that are going to be tackling him will be, he needs to avoid contact at all costs...slide, run out of bounds, whatever...there is just not that much room of error with these smaller guys...last year when we played the Chiefs, Travis Kelce accidentally targeted his own WR Worthy who is also in the 165 pound range and Worthy got wrecked and missed the rest of the game and I believe a few games after that, later in that game when Derwin fucked up the larger WR Rice, Rice missed some plays but returned to the game but he's 6' 1" and 203 pounds, almost 40 pounds heavier than Worthy and Thompson...

I think the odds are against Thompson having a long career but you never know and from what I've read he's a bit of a freak, he's freakishly strong for his size and that could also be an indication of higher muscle and bone density...if they can get him to add a bit more mass it would go a long way towards extending his career, even 10 pounds would make a huge difference...get him to 175-180 and he would still be the fastest guy on the Chargers...

The difference between being smaller than 5'9'' and taller than that at wide receiver: no threshold to you?
That is not unlike the difference between 31 & 3/4rths vs. 32 & 1/4 inch arms for pass rushers: one is significantly below a threshold (33''?) and pro evaluators pause to consider it.

At that low a weight, 6 pounds is not insignificant, as you are trying to suggest.
What if it were 8 pounds?

170 pounds is a threshold for small receivers, and Atwell is well below it ... but Thomposon?

And Atwell is not exactly missing games.

[powderblueboy]

Given the horrific state of the O-line, I think what Vidall accomplished last year was phenomenal.

With ACTUAL blocking this year, we'll get a read on how well he cuts back, takes advantage of lanes, and sets up MORE blocks downfield.

But all things considered, I was impressed.

It was interesting how Vidal had that really good game in pass pro, and then struggled with it in other games.
A 2nd year player being inconsistent, or the coaching staff was being unclear in his assignments, and in preparing for those Ds?