Coming off the best season of his career, running back Chris Thompson has been re-signed by the Redskins. He's recorded 1,200 total offensive yards over the last three years.
The Washington Redskins have re-signed restricted free agent running back Chris Thompson, the team announced on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In three seasons with the Redskins, the 26-year-old has appeared in 35 career regular season games, recording 106 carries for 584 yards with three rushing touchdowns along with 90 receptions for 616 yards and five additional touchdowns.
Appearing on a career-high 489 offensive snaps during the 2016 season – most among Redskins running backs – Thompson recorded 356 rushing yards with three touchdowns along with 349 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
Thompson was particularly strong during the stretch run, as he scored a game-winning 25-yard touchdown in a Week 14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Two weeks later in a 41-21 victory over the Chicago Bears, Thompson became the first Redskins player to record a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the same quarter since Kelvin Bryant also achieved the feat on Oct. 9, 1998.
"It was big, but you know I just saw as it all being a part of my journey," Thompson said of his 2016 performance. "Rookie year had surgeries, second year practice squad and third year I was trying to find my way. And I missed a couple of games. Now to this year having the best season of my career so far. So, I think it was all a part of the process and just me growing as a player and as a man."
With his re-signing, Thompson remains the veteran member of a young running back corps. Mack Brown (25), Matt Jones (24), Robert Kelley (24) and Keith Marshall (23) all entered the league after Thompson, a 2013 fifth-round pick for Washington.
While Kelley assumed starting running back duties from Jones midway through the season, Thompson remained valuable for the Redskins in third-down situations.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden believes Thompson's growth will continue in 2017.
"I have no problem brining in Chris Thompson, a guy like that, off the bench and brining him out there," Gruden said in February at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "He's a great pass protector, a great route runner; he has great value in the National Football League."
Thompson's hope now is that the rapport he's built with starting quarterback Kirk Cousins remain strong.
Whenever Cousins needs a reliable checkdown target or someone to be his last line of defense against an oncoming rush, Thompson will be there for him.
"This year he made it clear to me on multiple occasions that he had a lot of confidence in me this year and even when it came to protections, he never worried about my guy sacking him or anything," Thompson said in January. "It meant everything to me to be in a situation where Kirk trust me a lot in the pass and run game and protection, everything. That's what you want to hear from your quarterback and it takes time to build that. And I'm hoping in the near future, I will be right here along with Kirk for years to come."
