Shaq Thompson has a name for the unintentional, incidental and unconventional things that he’s been noticing lately – things he’s been seeing on license plates, billboards, and, according to the fourth-year linebacker, seemingly everywhere he looks; it seems that the entire offseason, he’s been seeing the number 54, his number, everywhere he looks. Need proof?
That paragraph had 54 words in it. Weird, right?
And Thompson has a name for it. The Year of 54.
“The crazy thing, I’ve just been seeing the number 54 everywhere,” Thompson said with a grin as he checked into his fourth training camp of his career Wednesday. “So I don’t know if that’s a sign for me or anything like that, but I just took that upon and I was like, OK. It’s a sign. I ride by a car, I see 54; I see a billboard, I see 54; I look at something – that says 54; so I mean, that’s a sign in my eyes.”
There doesn’t need to be a sign for Thompson to know that he’s about to get a larger workload, especially as he moves into his fourth year in a Panthers defense that will be helmed by the third defensive coordinator of Thompson’s career; although he is in line for more snaps this year – he’s taken on a larger role in each successive year of his career including over 64% of the snaps in 2017 – he’s not willing to take that for granted.
“I’m going to just approach it by just going out there and working, it’s starts here and I’m going to go out there and still compete against everybody – because it’s a fair game, it’s not my position, it’s not [Thomas Davis’] position, it’s not anybody’s position,” Thompson said, adding that he wasn’t thinking about Davis’ upcoming suspension that will keep the team captain out for the first four games of the season and what Thompson’s role will be during that first quarter of the season. “It’s an open market for anybody to play the position and that’s my whole mindset this year.”
That open market includes three rookies, Jermaine Carter, Andre Smith and UDFA Chris Frey, who Thompson described as really smart and that he was excited to see the three of them in live action – but he had some advice for the young trio; advice that he follows himself: Take advantage of the best linebacker resource in the NFL, former Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions, no questions are dumb – it’s ok to ask all the vets; that’s what I did, I came in here and asked TD and Luke a lot of questions,” Thompson said. “I’m still asking questions, you can always learn and always learn this defense – why not? That’s the best way to learn is to ask. Me and Luke sit by each other and we talk, I ask questions that I even know the answer to, just to make sure I see it the same way he sees it and to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“I’m trying to get up there with Luke and TD, performance-wise – like Luke reading the plays and stuff like that, I’m still trying to get there and that’s where I need to develop in my game.”
Having Luke Kuechly next to you is a good resource. pic.twitter.com/NFdOEys3M5
— The Riot Report (@RRiotReport) July 25, 2018
Still hungry to develop but hungry for a role in Eric Washington’s defense, Thompson won’t be picky about where he gets to be on the field – Thompson already plays the hybrid buffalo-nickel position, a combination of linebacker, safety and cornerback that aims to be a force in the run game and a matchup problem for both tight ends and running backs.
“Wherever they need me, that’s where I’m going to play. Regardless, I’ll pick it up and I’ll learn it – if they need me at safety, I can play safety; if they need me at running back, I’ll go play running back – I’ll learn whatever they want me to, I’ll do it.”
Running back?
“I’ve been talking to Norv about it, and he says ‘Just wait.'”
You don’t see a lot of 54s on the offensive side of the ball, but this might be the year for it – after all, fate keeps intervening. As Thompson stepped away from the media, he walked by a photographer, who held up his credential for Thompson to see. You can probably guess what the number was at the bottom of it.
