Anterio
Thompson.
Anterio
Thompson.
Washington· 6'4"· 306 lb· 4.73s 40
R6 · #208 · Atlanta Falcons"Nobody recruited him, a JUCO title team built him, and a 9.38 RAS finally made the league look."Pre-draft read
This squat, explosive interior lineman aligns low and plays low, winning the snap before winning the technique with genuine quickness for his weight. His violent initial punch and ability to lock out and disengage directly reflect his strength. Against the run, he operates effectively as a two-gapper, holding his ground and shedding late. His anchor holds consistently at both the MAC and Big Ten levels across 26 consecutive starts.
The pass rush is less developed. He gets off the ball and pushes the pocket but lacks a diverse counter package; once an offensive guard survives the initial move, the rush often flattens. While his defense generated almost nothing structurally in pass rush, he was effective in his run-stopping duties, contributing to stout line yardage and stuff rates.
This prospect fits best in a one-gap 4-3 penetrating front, relying on quickness and initial burst to disrupt offensive lines and pressure the quarterback in a fast-paced scheme.
Year 1 role as a rotational interior pass rusher and run defender with special teams contributions, eventually developing into an impactful starting 3-technique.
A two-gap 3-4 defense that emphasizes prolonged engagement and holding ground at the point of attack, as his pass-rush development is still raw.
Anterio Thompson's elite athletic traits and explosive get-off are compelling, but his pass-rush repertoire and overall production are underdeveloped, making him a high-upside developmental project for a specific system.
Anterio Thompson Career Highlights: Washington Football
Anterio Thompson College Highlights | 2026 NFL Draft | Atlanta Falcons
Falcons select Washington DT Anterio Thompson
Anterio Thompson projects as an interior disruptor for a team prioritizing explosive traits and run defense over immediate pass-rush production. His elite athletic testing at 306 pounds, including 30 bench reps and a 9'6" broad jump, suggests significant raw power and explosiveness. This profile makes him a bet on development, with the physical tools to become a starting-caliber run defender if his technique matures.
His collegiate journey was a four-stop climb: from an unranked high school recruit to a JUCO national champion, then to a special teams contributor in the Big Ten, and finally a multi-year starter at two FBS programs. This progression showcases his ability to adapt and consistently earn roles, though his overall defensive production, with just 4.0 TFL and 2.5 sacks in his FBS career, did not match his evident physical gifts.
Evaluators noted his impressive athletic profile but questioned his undeveloped pass-rush plan and somewhat limited production. Despite these concerns, his strong special teams value and consistent starting experience made him an intriguing Day 3 prospect. He was ultimately selected by Atlanta in the sixth round, 208th overall.
- 01
Elite athletic testing for the position
9.38 RAS built on an unofficial 4.73 forty, 30 bench reps and a 9'6" broad jump at 306 pounds, numbers that put him in the top decile of interior linemen historically.
- 02
Get-off and first-step quickness
the reason he wins early in a rep despite a squat build, and the trait Atlanta's front office singled out ("sawed off, powerful, explosive").
- 03
Hand strength and grip
30 reps on the bench shows up as an ability to lock out and shed rather than absorb, and he plays with heavy, active hands.
- 04
Special-teams value
two blocked punts at Iowa in 2023 (third nationally), one returned into a safety, plus a blocked kick at Western Michigan in 2024; that is a real day-three roster argument.
- 05
Durability and volume as a starter
26 straight starts across 2024 and 2025 and over 800 defensive line snaps in those two seasons at two different programs.
- 01
Counting production never matched the traits
65 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks across three FBS seasons is thin for a fifth-year player who started 26 games.
- 02
Pass-rush plan is undeveloped
nine total quarterback hurries over two starting seasons; the burst arrives, the counter move does not, and he admitted after his pro day he still had "a lot more to improve on" technically.
- 03
Height and length
listed at 6'4" but built low and thick, and no arm length, hand size or wingspan figures were ever published, which is its own red flag for a lineman evaluated on leverage.
- 04
Missing agility testing
no three-cone, short shuttle or ten-yard split on record from the pro day, so the change-of-direction profile is an inference from the jumps.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.73sp50
- Vertical
- 29.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 114inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 30repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Iowa | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Western Michigan | 13 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | Washington | 13 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 33 | 64 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- 2022 NJCAA Division I national champion with Iowa Western Community College
- 2022 JUCO first-team all-conference and all-region
- 2023 Iowa: two blocked punts, third-most in the FBS
- 26 consecutive starts across Western Michigan (2024) and Washington (2025)
- 2026 Washington pro day: 9.38 RAS, 30 bench reps, 9'6" broad jump
- 2026 NFL Draft: sixth round, 208th overall
Rotational interior body kept on the roster by athletic traits and special-teams value while the pass-rush plan never fully arrives.
Small-school interior lineman with freak strength who grew into a full-time run-stuffing starter — the outcome the 30 bench reps and the RAS make imaginable.
Journeyman defensive tackle who bounces between practice squads because the production never catches up to the frame.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Atlanta is buying the athletic score and the arc. Ian Cunningham's description — "sawed off, powerful, explosive, really good hand strength, good instincts" — is a scout describing traits, not production, and that is honest: a 9.38 RAS with 2.5 career sacks is a bet that the reason for the gap is coaching and opportunity rather than ceiling. The path supports it. He was unrecruited out of Dubuque, nearly quit the sport, built himself at Iowa Western into a national champion, and then kept the starting job every year he was handed one.
The realistic role is a rotational interior body who earns his first two years on special teams — the blocked punts are not an accident — while Nate Ollie tries to attach a pass-rush plan to the get-off. Atlanta's front is built to attack upfield, which fits what he already does well and hides what he does not. If the counter moves arrive, there is a starting-caliber run defender with real burst here. If they do not, the testing and the teams work still keep him on a 53.