NFL Draft Profile: Casey Thompson, Quarterback, Nebraska Cornhusker
Casey Thompson
Nebraska Cornhusker
#11
Pos: QB
Ht: 6002
Wt: 192
40: 4.64
DOB: 10/3/1998
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK
High School: Newcastle
Eligibility: 2023
One Liner:
Thompson has intriguing mobility to extend plays and good arm talent, but his lower body mechanics, pocket awareness, and ball placement leave much to be desired.
Evaluation:
Thompson frequently uses all levels of the middle of the field despite not having great size. His mobility allows him to escape the pocket and extend plays. Thompson appears comfortable throwing on the run and keeps his eyes downfield when he exits the pocket. The former four-star recruit doesn’t have an elite arm, but he’s capable of connecting on throws right around 50 yards downfield, as he showed multiple times against Oklahoma in 2021. Thompson puts excellent touch on his deep throws and is surprisingly productive as a downfield passer. Thompson improved the process of working through his progressions from 2021 to 2022. However, the former Texas Longhorn still suffers from many inconsistencies and shortcomings. He’s drawn a lot of penalties early in the 2022 season, and his pre-snap process still seems underdeveloped. Thompson’s ball placement is erratic, which leads to many plays where his targets don’t even have a chance to make a play on the football. His fake handoffs and poor ball security suggest he’s still developing his skills as a showman. Thompson’s lower body mechanics are all over the place. He takes plenty of unnecessary and inefficient steps in the pocket, stays on his toes too much, and often throws from an uneven base, which destroys his accuracy. His whip-like throwing motion has an extended wind-up, and he sometimes throws with a low release angle that leads to underthrown passes. He’s also vulnerable to overthrows on deep passes where he’s targeting general space rather than a specific catch point. Thompson’s pocket awareness is below-average. Some of his pass attempts to the sideline seem to lose steam in midair.
Grade:
UDFA
Background:
Thompson was a four-star recruit from Newcastle High School in Newcastle, Okla., in the class of 2018. He was the No. 291 recruit according to the 247Sports composite board and No. 308 for On3.com. Thompson was an unranked four-star recruit for Rivals. ESPN ranked him 221st in the nation with an 82 grade out of 100. Thompson began his career at Southmoore High School before spending his final season at Newcastle. He amassed 12,840 total yards and 154 total touchdowns during his high school career, including 9,829 passing yards and 107 passing touchdowns and 511 carries for more than 3,000 yards and 47 touchdowns. He only threw 26 interceptions. Thompson completed 222 of 383 pass attempts for 3,249 yards, 37 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while rushing for 861 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior. As a junior at Southmoore, he completed 187 of 301 attempts for 2,730 yards, 28 touchdowns, and five interceptions while rushing 124 times for 586 yards and 14 touchdowns. Thompson completed 167 of 271 attempts for 2,670 yards, 32 touchdowns, and four interceptions as a sophomore while carrying the ball 136 times for 1,011 yards and 20 scores. The Oklahoma native totaled 1,180 yards and ten touchdowns through the air and 553 yards and five touchdowns on the ground as a freshman. USA Football invited him to play in the 2018 International Bowl. Thompson earned his degree from Texas in 2021 and transferred to Nebraska ahead of the 2022 season. His father (Charles) played quarterback for Oklahoma in 1987 and 1988, and his brother (Kendal) played quarterback for Oklahoma from 2011-13 and Utah from 2014-15. Thompson was born on Oct. 3, 1998.
