One of the most intriguing players in the 2015 NFL Draft, former Washington linebacker/running back/jack-of-all-trades Shaq Thompson revealed on a recent episode of Pro Football Talk Live that the team that has shown the most interest in him during the pre-draft process is the Carolina Panthers.
While it's been proven time and again that pre-draft interest does not in any way shape or form necessarily translate to that prospect actually being selected by that team - and really, even if the Panthers do target Thompson, it would only take one other team ahead of them to value him enough to ruin their draft night plans - it's still interesting to surmise just what this means for Thompson and for the Panthers.
Carolina head coach Ron Rivera has a defensive background, having spent nine years as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears before retiring as a player and joining the coaching ranks, moving from defensive quality control coach with the Bears, to linebackers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles to defensive coordinator with the Bears and San Diego Chargers and finally, to the Panthers.
Rivera and defensive coordinator Sean McDermott have combined to turn the Panthers into a formidable defensive unit with a few less-than-stellar parts so, if there's one franchise in the NFL who can take a player with as much talent and as little positional certainty as Thompson and make him a high-quality contributor on an NFL defense, it's the Panthers.
The question remains though - where will Thompson end up long-term?
While Thompson has said that his preference is to play linebacker at the NFL level, NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock believes that the former Huskie's long-term professional football future is at safety.
NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt also reported in February that he spoke with two NFL teams and both suggested that Thompson's NFL future was, indeed, at strong safety.
"I'm gonna put it out there that I want to play linebacker. But I can't say no to (safety)," Thompson said, per Bryan Fischer of NFL.com. "I like to be up by the line of scrimmage. I feel like I'm physical enough. I'm not the biggest guy, but I have a lot of heart."
Thompson, 6-foot, 228-pounds, is very much on the small side for linebacker, but very much on the large side for safety. Combined with a mediocre performance in agility drills at the NFL rookie scouting combine and it seems Thompson currently finds himself in something of a no-man's land when it comes to an NFL position.
Still, Thompson has talent and a propensity for making plays in the game's biggest moments.
"With his big-play potential, Thompson could become a unique chess piece in the hands of the right defensive coordinator, but there are a growing number of teams that are beginning to struggle with whether to project Thompson as a safety or 4-3 outside linebacker," writes NFL.com's Lance Zierlein.
If Rivera and McDermott are able to get their hands on Thompson it won't matter whether he ends up lining up next to Luke Kuechly or Tre Boston, he'll still likely find a way to terrorize opposing offenses and fly around the field as a member of an increasingly dangerous Panthers defense.
