{"id":804386,"date":"2026-03-10T11:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/804386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:38:15","slug":"who-is-jalen-thompson-5-things-to-know-about-the-cowboys-new-secondary-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/804386\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Jalen Thompson? 5 things to know about the Cowboys’ new secondary addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> are off the blocks in 2026 free agency.<\/p>\n

Dallas agreed to terms with safety Jalen Thompson<\/a>, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals, just a few hours after free agency began on Monday.<\/p>\n

Here are five tings to know about Thompson:<\/p>\n

1. The basics<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

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Date of birth: July 18, 1998 (Age: 28)<\/p>\n

Hometown: Paramount, Calif.<\/p>\n

Position: Safety<\/p>\n

Height: 5-11<\/p>\n

Weight: 190 lbs.<\/p>\n

College: Washington State<\/p>\n

2. Start of a new era?<\/p>\n

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has said he\u2019s unafraid to \u201cbust the budget\u201d<\/a> this offseason. With the signing of Thompson, he might just be proving that.<\/p>\n

At three years and a maximum of $36 million, that deal is unusually large by the Cowboys\u2019 recent standards. In fact, it\u2019s more than half of the $54 million Dallas spent on outside free agents in total between 2020-2025, according to an analysis by Over The Cap<\/a>. <\/p>\n

3. His connection with the Cowboys coaching staff<\/p>\n

When Thompson joins his new team, he\u2019ll have at least one familiar face to lean on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cowboys\u2019 secondary coach Ryan Smith joined the team this offseason after a stint in Arizona. Smith spent three years with Thompson as the cornerbacks coach for the Cardinals before joining Christian Parker\u2019s staff in Dallas.<\/p>\n

4. His unique path to the NFL<\/p>\n

Thompson was selected by the Arizona Cardinals as a fifth-round supplemental draft pick in 2019. To date, he is the most recent player selected in the NFL\u2019s supplemental draft.<\/p>\n

He only entered the supplemental draft after losing his senior season of eligibility at Washington State because of an NCAA rules violation related to his purchase of a banned over-the-counter supplement. That punishment left him without eligibility and forced him into the draft.<\/p>\n

5. His fit in Dallas<\/p>\n

One of the big reasons the Cowboys went after Thompson was his versatility. Thompson has the potential to play as a slot defender or \u201cstar\u201d in defensive coordinator Christian Parker\u2019s nickel defense.<\/p>\n

Brian Schottenheimer said the Cowboys needed someone who could \u201ccover like a corner, tackle like a linebacker and blitz like a safety,\u201d at nickel. It seems they\u2019re hoping Thompson, who has averaged two interceptions and 99 tackles per 17 games in his career, can do just that.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/a>Who is Rashan Gary? 5 things to know about the Cowboys’ latest trade acquisition<\/a><\/p>\n

Gary arrives in Dallas after a productive seven-year tenure with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Cowboys free agency tracker: Is Dallas ready to \u2018bust the budget?\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The NFL\u2019s free agency period opens on Monday. Keep track of signings, player targets and more here.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys are off the blocks in 2026 free agency. Dallas agreed to terms with safety Jalen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[2009,230,229,257,2461,7,1184,6,9,4662],"class_list":["post-804386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-cowboys","tag-brief","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallascowboys","tag-football","tag-listicle","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-things-to-know"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116204688889671219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}