Deven Thompkins Doesn’t Fear Competition – Or Anything

And of course, there is the legendary “parkour episode” from the hit sitcom “The Office” that helped bring the extreme sport mainstream.

Thompkins was surprised to learn that Murphy-Bunting revealed his well-hidden secret.

“Who told you about the parkour?! [laughs]” Thompkins said. “Growing up I used to do it all the time. I used to scare my mom so much. That also comes with my fearlessness as well. I kind of conquered my fears at a really young age with parkour and also I love animals, snakes, and things like that, so I’d go out and catch wild animals. I shook the Fear Factor [laughs].

“Pythons, Burmese pythons, alligators – you name it. Little 4-foot alligators – catching them on the banks and stuff, sitting there in the water, pulling them up by their tails. I’ve never been bit, but I’ve been bitten by snakes, though. I got a couple of bites on me, but it just grew on me, especially with the friends I had when I was in Pop Warner football. I was around a bunch of country boys, and they always welcomed me to their houses. They showed me a new side of life growing up in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, back and forth from there.”

As for Thompkins’ scariest parkour jump?

“There was a parking garage and then a building downtown that I used to go to [in Fort Myers],” Thompkins said. “One day, I used to practice at the park down there on the monkey bars jumping from the top of the monkey bars to the slide, and then one day I was like: ‘let me try the parking garage.’ I was only about 15, I was down there by myself, and I made the jump.

“I did a lot of long jumping, triple jump, and things like that in high school when I was running track. All of that built into it.”

Deven Thompkins Showed His Big-Play Ability As A Returner

Deven Thompkins didn’t realize it at the time, but his fearless acts of catching wild animals and parkour would greatly aid his football career at Utah State, where he was the second-leading receiver in college football in 2021 with 102 catches for 1,704 yards (16.7 avg.) and 10 touchdowns. And it’s also helping him in Tampa Bay.

It wasn’t just out-leaping taller, 6-foot cornerbacks for passing in training camp that endeared the Bucs coaches to Thompkins. It was his fearlessness, which is a prerequisite for returning kicks and punts and football – and a trait that Darden simply didn’t have. Darden, a fourth-round draft pick in 2020, was released in December and Thompkins was promoted to the active roster as the return specialist in Week 14 at San Francisco.

In one game, he showed more heart returning the ball that Darden did in more than a year and a half. He averaged 10.5 yards per punt return on two attempts and 24.6 yards on five kick returns, including a 54-yarder to start the second half.

“Thompkins, he can put his foot in the ground and get upfield,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “Darden was more of a sideline returner. Thompkins can go up the middle. He’s very decisive when he makes his cut, and he’s been doing it in practice, giving people fits. And he did it in the game.”

Thompkins was patiently biding his time on the practice squad until his NFL debut at San Francisco. His big returns were the highlight in a crushing, 35-7 loss to the 49ers.

“It was a dream come true,” Thompkins said. “I remember in the middle of running it I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’m in the NFL really, and I broke it?’ You know, ‘I’m loving it, I’m running a kick return right now!’ It was probably the best feeling I’ve had in a long time, just the whole adrenaline rush, the moment in itself. Understanding the game wasn’t going our way, there wasn’t any spark of energy. Coming right out after halftime, it was just everything that led up to it made it special for me for sure.

“I’d really just been enjoying even the practice squad experience. Being able to take my time to learn and better my game in a sense. Being patient, waiting my turn, and when the opportunity presented itself, I just wanted to make the most of it because I kind of figured I’d get to this point sooner or later.”

Deven Thompkins Isn’t Afraid Of Competition

Tampa Bay veteran receiver Mike Evans was impressed with the big plays turned in by the smallest Buccaneer last year.

“Crazy athletic, great teammate, too,” Evans said at the end of last year. “Hard-working, explosive, just always wants to get better. He’s been helping us out the past few games he’s been active. It’s no surprise, we knew he was going to be playing at some point. He is a really good player for us, he just wants to learn. He’s been a great rookie, him and KG [Kaylon Geiger]. They’ve been doing a hell of a job for us.”

Deven Thompkins wound up averaging 22 yards per kick return and over 10 yards per punt return over the last five games of the regular season, in addition to catching five passes for 32 yards. He will have to fend off sixth-round pick Trey Palmer, an even faster receiver who is competing to be the Bucs’ return specialist, this year along with a few others.

But just like he attacked the 49ers coverage units, Thompkins will attack this competition with the same fearlessness that allowed him to jump from building to building in his youth. Now that he’s a father and a provider for his family his reckless days of doing parkour are officially over – at least for now.

“I still do a lot of flips and stuff like that,” Thompkins said. “We do some flips outside after practice. I still can flip and all that stuff, but I won’t touch the buildings until probably after my football career if I’m still athletic. I don’t know if anyone can match me from a gymnast standpoint, but I know there’s a couple that can do backflips. Russell Gage did one, I’m pretty sure Chris [Godwin] can probably do one. I did the most flips though.”

With Evans, Godwin, Gage and Palmer locks to make the 53-man roster, Deven Thompkins is essentially battling for one of the two remaining spots on the receiver depth chart. Thompkins’ path to make the team once again is to continue to play fearlessly and to continue to rise above the competition – literally.

“I’m smaller than everybody, but I feel bigger than them,” Thompkins said. “That comes from being a father – a protector. I’m the second-oldest in my family, but I’ve always been the protector of my family. Just not having that fear, allowing that to show in everything I do.

“This is more than just a game to me at the end of the day. It’s something that can actually take care of [my family]. I’ve been able to help my family more [with] different things and able to be a more present father in my children’s lives. I just take each and every ball that comes my way very, very seriously.”