Deonte Thompson parlayed 2017, the most productive season of his NFL career, into a fairly hefty raise.
The 29-year-old wide receiver signed with the Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, per his agent who initially announced it on Twitter. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that he’s inking a one-year deal worth $2.5 million and also receiving a $1 million signing bonus.
The #Cowboys signed WR Deonte Thompson, per agent @davidcanter. He gets 1-year, $2.5M with a $1M signing bonus.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 22, 2018
Dallas Cowboys Sign Wide Receiver Deonte Thompson to a One-Year Deal
Thompson was initially with the Chicago Bears in 2017. He played five regular season games with the team, registering 125 receiving yards and a touchdown grab before the team released him on October 11th. He then signed with the Buffalo Bills six days later and made his presence felt right off the bat.
In a Week Seven win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Thompson caught four passes for 107 yards and a touchdown. It marked just the second time in his career that he eclipsed 100 receiving yards in a game. He did so the previous season when he racked up 110 yards in the Bears’ Week 15 contest against the Green Bay Packers.
Thompson proved a fairly reliable component of the receiving corps during his lone season in Buffalo. He finished third on the team, behind LeSean McCoy and Charles Clay, with 430 receiving yards. Combining both his stints with the Bears and Bills, last year, he ended the season with 555 receiving yards, the largest mark of his career thus far.
The new deal Thompson signed with Dallas is a fairly significant upgrade in pay from what he made in 2017. The Bills signed him to a one-year, $775,000 contract upon joining the team last year. It marked the second time the team added Thompson to the roster midseason. Back in 2014, he came to the Bills in December after he was released by the Baltimore Ravens.
Thompson went undrafted out of Florida in 2012 and later signed with the Ravens. He played in 13 games in Baltimore over the next two seasons, totaling 15 receptions and 147 receiving yards. Given the contract he just signed with the Cowboys, expectations are high that he can replicate his numbers from Buffalo as opposed to those from earlier in his career.
