He also had a short stint playing baseball with the Boston Red Sox organization as part of their rookie team in the Gulf Coast League.

[2] A native of Sacramento, California, Thompson attended Grant Union High School, where he was a three-sport star in football, track and baseball.

As a junior, he rushed for 1,882 yards and 25 touchdowns on 164 carries, helping lead Grant to an 8–4 record and the quarterfinals of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

He posted a personal-best time of 10.96 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the 2010 CIF San Joaquin Master Finals, where he took seventh.

He also had a strong performance at Washington State, collecting eight tackles, including a sack, and also recovering a fumble and returning it 21 yards.

He started at tailback at Colorado, rushing for 174 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries (11.6-yard average), leading this to be named the team's offensive player of the game after the win in Boulder.

He made a second straight start at tailback, but also saw a good deal of action on the defense, vs. UCLA, when he was a game captain.

[21] He make his professional regular season debut and first career start in the Panthers' season-opening 20–9 victory at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[22] On September 27, 2015, Thompson recorded a season-high seven combined tackles and made his first career sack on Drew Brees in a 27–22 victory against the New Orleans Saints.

[23] In Week 6, he collected four combined tackles before leaving the 27–23 victory at the Seattle Seahawks due to a knee sprain.

[25] He finished his rookie season in 2015 with a total of 50 combined tackles (32 solo), two pass deflections, and a sack in 14 games and ten starts.

On January 17, 2016, Thompson started his first career playoff game and assisted on one tackle during the Panthers' 31–24 victory against the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football Conference (NFC) Divisional Round.

On February 7, 2016, Thompson appeared in Super Bowl 50 and recorded five combined tackles as the Panthers were defeated 24–10 by the Denver Broncos.

In Week 16, Thompson recorded a season-high 11 combined tackles and deflected a pass during the Panthers' 33–16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Thompson finished the 2016 season with 56 combined tackles (39 solo), five pass deflections, and an interception in 14 games and 12 starts.

[30] Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks retained Thompson as the starting strongside linebacker after Sean McDermott departed to become the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

He started the Panthers' season-opener at the San Francisco 49ers, recording two solo tackles and a sack of Brian Hoyer during their 23–3 victory.

On October 1, 2017, Thompson made a season-high ten combined tackles in their 33–30 win against the New England Patriots.

He finished his third season with a career-high 61 combined tackles (41 solo), two sacks, and one pass deflections in 14 games, all of them starts.

[34] In Week 4 of the 2019 season against the Houston Texans, Thompson recorded a team-high 12 tackles and sacked quarterback Deshaun Watson once in the 16–10 win.

[35] In Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, Thompson recorded a team-high 11 tackles and sacked Ryan Tannehill once in the 30–20 win.

[37] In Week 3 of the 2020 season against the Los Angeles Chargers, Thompson led the team with 12 tackles, forced a fumble on running back Joshua Kelley, and recovered the football during the 21–16 win.

[47] On October 14, 2019, Thompson announced on his Twitter account that his mother had died, just hours after the Panthers' 37–26 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London.