#17

Taylor Thompson

Former tight end at James Madison. 2024: 33 catches, 448 receiving yards, 6 TD.

TE · James Madison · Sr. · #17

6′3″ · 235 lb · Prattville, AL

CFB Index 59 · #27 of 135 TEsMedium-low confidenceJames Madison 2024 — college career complete

Recruiting

3★

TE recruit

No. 1554 nationally · Signed with Charlotte

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former tight end at James Madison. 2024: 33 catches, 448 receiving yards, 6 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Charlotte in 2020.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at James Madison, 1,028 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 4 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

20205 games

Signed with Charlotte3-star out of Prattville

2023

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1554 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2020–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2020–2024

2 coaches

2020–2021

—

James Madison

2022

Curt Cignetti

James Madison

era →

2024

Bob Chesney

James Madison

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Curt Cignetti → Bob Chesney. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2020Charlotte2-4HC: Will Healy · Run-leaning

2021Charlotte5-7HC: Will Healy · Balanced

2022Charlotte3-9HC: Peter Rossomando · Balanced

2024James Madison9-4HC: Bob Chesney · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

59Quality starter #27 of 135?

Medium-low confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: td rate (90th percentile). Strength: rec tds (90th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#58 / 610 · 90th pct

13.5%

Explosive rate#178 / 610 · 71st pct

18.9%

Yards / catch#205 / 610 · 66th pct

13.2

EPA / target#259 / 610 · 58th pct

0.93

Catch rate#398 / 610 · 35th pct

86.5%

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#13 / 168 · 90th pct

Rec yards#25 / 168 · 85th pct

448

Yards / catch#26 / 168 · 84th pct

13.6

Receptions#40 / 168 · 76th pct

Long catch#66 / 168 · 59th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home7g	2.4	41.3	19.2	0.7
Road6g	2.7	26.5	9.8	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.9	44.4	16.7	0.6
Weeks 8+6g	2.2	22.8	12.8	0.3

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Billy Napier

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

59 · #27 of 135 TEs

Three-star recruit. Now #27 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	James Madison	33	448	13.6	6	--
2022	Charlotte	14	263	18.8	0	--
2021	Charlotte	18	127	7.1	1	--
2020	Charlotte	12	190	15.8	1	--
Career		77	1,028	13.4	8	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 4 · 2024

W 70–50

at North Carolina

2 rec · 26 yds · 1 TD

Edged out North Carolina on the road in a shootout.

With A. Barnett — 388 yds · 5 TD · 0 INT · QBR 95.5 · 99 rush yds (13 car) · 2 TD · C. Ross — 10 rush yds (1 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · Western Kentucky · 3&8 · Q4 · EPA +3.37Billy Atkins pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 21 yds for a TD (Noe Ruelas KICK)
Week 5 · Ball State · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +3.10Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 22 yds for a TD (Noe Ruelas KICK)
Week 11 · Georgia State · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +2.99Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 12 yds for a TD (Noe Ruelas KICK)
Week 7 · Coastal Carolina · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.80Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 33 yds to the CCU 44 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Coastal Carolina · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.70Taylor Thompson 25 Yd pass from Alonza Barnett III (Taylor Thompson Pass to Josh Phifer for Two-Point Conversion)
Week 4 · North Carolina · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.54Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 13 yds for a TD (Noe Ruelas KICK)
Week 9 · Southern Miss · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.51Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 10 yds for a TD (Cristiano Rosa KICK)
Week 5 · Ball State · 3&4 · Q3 · EPA +2.40Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 23 yds to the BALL 26 for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Ball State · 3&16 · Q4 · EPA +2.10Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 22 yds to the JMU 35 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · North Carolina · 2&7 · Q3 · EPA +1.71Alonza Barnett III pass complete to Taylor Thompson for 13 yds to the JMU 41 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 30-7@ Charlotte	2	30	15.0	0	15
Wk 2	W 13-6vs Gardner-Webb	3	26	8.7	0	13
Wk 4	W 70-50@ North Carolina	2	26	13.0	1	13
Wk 5	W 63-7vs Ball State	5	91	18.2	1	23	Season-high 91 yds
Wk 6	L 19-21@ UL Monroe	5	59	11.8	0	16
Wk 7	W 39-7vs Coastal Carolina	2	58	29.0	1	33
Wk 8	L 14-28@ Georgia Southern	3	16	5.3	0	6
Wk 9	W 32-15vs Southern Miss	2	15	7.5	1	10
Wk 11	W 38-7vs Georgia State	3	42	14.0	1	20
Wk 12	W 35-32@ Old Dominion	2	20	10.0	0	14
Wk 13	L 20-34@ App State	2	8	4.0	0	4
Wk 14	L 33-35vs Marshall	1	36	36.0	0	36
Bowl	W 27-17vs Western Kentucky	1	21	21.0	1	21
Total		33	448	14.9	6	36

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Taylor Thompson

20205 games

2023

2024 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Complete TE

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