Deven Thompkins Doesn’t Fear Competition – Or Anything

When a small, undrafted free agent wide receiver is trying to make an NFL roster, he has to do big things to stand out. For Bucs receiver Deven Thompkins, that meant making big plays on offense and on special teams, and playing bigger than his 5-foot-7, 167-pound frame would typically allow.

The smallest Buccaneer did enough in training camp and in the preseason last year to stick on the practice squad, and later replaced Jaelon Darden as the team’s punt and kick returner. It wasn’t just Thompkins’ 4.42 speed or lightning quick cutting ability that impressed the Bucs coaches and scouts. It was also his ability to leap 38.5 inches and play bigger than he actually is.

“Oh, he plays big. Yeah, he plays big, his vertical is out of the gym,” former Bucs cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting said. “It caught me off guard at first when I first saw him during training camp. Then he started making plays like that consistently, so then you’re like, ‘Woah.’ We were having one-on-ones – I forgot what team was here – and he was going over the top on dudes. That guy can do just about everything, but you don’t expect him to be able to go over the top of a guy like that.

“That’s a credit to him, and I don’t know if you guys know, but he does parkour and stuff like that. Yeah, like flipping over buildings and stuff – crazy stuff! He’s a kamikaze already. Anybody that’s already like that, with his athletic ability, you can’t teach that. Can’t coach it. It’s a credit to him, he’s just a guy that has it.”

Deven Thompkins’ Fearlessness Comes From Parkour

Sean Murphy-Bunting spilled the beans on a little-known fact about Deven Thompkins’ former hobby – parkour, which is “an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing flips.”

If you’re unfamiliar with parkour, the video below is one of the more extreme versions of it – and do not attempt these stunts as they come with the risk of injury or death.