Keytaon Kaylen Thompson (born October 23, 1998) is an American professional football wide receiver. He played college football at Virginia. He previously played quarterback at Mississippi State.
Thompson attended L.B. Landry College and Career Preparatory High School in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] He played quarterback in high school. As a senior, he was the Gatorade Football Player of the Year for Louisiana after passing for 3,825 yards with 46 touchdowns and 1,434 rushing yards with 26 touchdowns.[2] For his career, Thompson had 10,737 yards of total offense and 149 total touchdowns.[3] He committed to Mississippi State University to play college football.[4]
Thompson played quarterback at Mississippi State from 2017 to 2019. As a true freshman in 2017, he spent the year as a backup to Nick Fitzgerald.[5] He made his first career start in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl in place of an injured Fitzgerald.[6] He led the team to victory against Louisville, completing 11 of 20 passes for 127 and rushing for 147 yards with three touchdowns.[7] He played in nine games as a backup to Fitzgerald in 2018 and made one start. In 2019, he played in one game and took a redshirt.
Thompson transferred to the University of Virginia in 2020.[8][9] He played wide receiver at Virginia.[10][11] In nine games in 2020, he had seven receptions for 98 yards and three touchdowns.[12] In 2021, Thompson started 10 of 12 games and led the team with 78 receptions for 990 yards and two touchdowns.[13]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3+7⁄8 in (1.93 m) |
218 lb (99 kg) |
33+3⁄8 in (0.85 m) |
10+1⁄4 in (0.26 m) |
4.66 s | 1.66 s | 2.63 s | 4.35 s | 7.12 s | 34.5 in (0.88 m) |
10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) | ||
| All values from Pro Day[14] | ||||||||||||
Thompson was signed by the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent on May 12, 2023.[15] Thompson was waived by the Lions on May 25, following the acquisition of Riley Patterson.[16]
The Orlando Guardians acquired Thompson's XFL playing rights on August 3, 2023.[17] He signed with the team on October 30.[18] The Guardians folded when the XFL and USFL merged to create the United Football League (UFL).[19]
On January 30, 2024, Thompson signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL).[20] He was released on May 12, 2024.[21]
