Bio
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Debut
- 1989
- Draft
- 1989Rd 1, Pk 4
- College
- Alabama
- Defensive Rookie of the Year
- 1989
Bio
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Debut
- 1989
- Draft
- 1989Rd 1, Pk 4
- College
- Alabama
- Defensive Rookie of the Year
- 1989
Stats
Totals
Career regular season
- GP
- 169
- TOT
- 346
- SOLO
- 304
- AST
- 42
- SACK
- 126.5
- INT
- 1
- PD
- 17
- FF
- 22
Ranked among NFL players who qualify (TOT, SOLO, SACK, PD, FF: 8+ games; AST: 4+ games) that season; only the top 50 are shown. How each stat qualifies: glossary.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | TOT: Tackles made, solo and assisted together. | SOLO: Tackles made without help. | AST: Assisted tackles, where the player helped bring the carrier down. | SACK: Quarterbacks tackled behind the line of scrimmage. A shared sack counts as a half. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | PD: Passes defensed — throws broken up before they were caught. | FF: Fumbles forced by knocking the ball loose. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 |  KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | KC | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | KC | 16 | 36 | 35 | 1 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1994 | KC | 16 | 68 | 63 | 5 | 11.0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 1995 | KC | 15 | 53 | 48 | 5 | 8.0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 1996 | KC | 16 | 54 | 46 | 8 | 13.0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 1997 | KC | 12 | 34 | 27 | 7 | 9.5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1998 | KC | 15 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 12.0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1999 | KC | 16 | 60 | 53 | 7 | 7.0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
What the columns mean: TOT · SOLO · AST · SACK · INT · PD · FF
Career Postseason
- GP
- 9
- TOT
- 21
- SOLO
- 20
- AST
- 1
- SACK
- 6.5
- INT
- 0
- PD
- 1
- FF
- 2
Per game
Career regular season
- GP
- 169
- TOT
- 2.0
- SOLO
- 1.8
- AST
- 0.2
- SACK
- 0.7
- INT
- 0.0
- PD
- 0.1
- FF
- 0.1
Per game: season totals ÷ games played. Derived here — averages, completion rate and longest plays are the stored figures and are left as they are.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | TOT: Tackles made, solo and assisted together. | SOLO: Tackles made without help. | AST: Assisted tackles, where the player helped bring the carrier down. | SACK: Quarterbacks tackled behind the line of scrimmage. A shared sack counts as a half. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | PD: Passes defensed — throws broken up before they were caught. | FF: Fumbles forced by knocking the ball loose. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | KC | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | KC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | KC | 16 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 1994 | KC | 16 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| 1995 | KC | 15 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1996 | KC | 16 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| 1997 | KC | 12 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 1998 | KC | 15 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 1999 | KC | 16 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
What the columns mean: TOT · SOLO · AST · SACK · INT · PD · FF
What were Derrick Thomas's career stats?
Derrick Thomas played 11 seasons for the Chiefs. He recorded 346 tackles, 126.5 sacks and 1 interceptions. His best season was 1994: 68 tackles and 11.0 sacks.
League leaderboards and awards
11 seasons, 6 postseasons, 1989 to 1999
Derrick Thomas finished top 10 in a stat 3 times.
Awards
All-time career rank
- 19th in sacks (126.5)
Among the 9,225 NFL players with a career line on file, regular season. A place deeper than 300th is not listed.
Season top 10 finishes
Among qualified NFL players each season, as the glossary defines each stat. All-time places are among players on file.
More on Derrick Thomas
Similar players
Closest career per-game profiles to Derrick Thomas among NFL players at the same position.
- Ken HarveyAlike in Interceptions, Passes defended62out of 100 on profile similarity
- Peter BoulwareAlike in Interceptions, Solo tackles61out of 100 on profile similarity
- Kevin GreeneAlike in Sacks47out of 100 on profile similarity
- Jason GildonAlike in Forced fumbles42out of 100 on profile similarity
- Bryce PaupAlike in Solo tackles, Tackles42out of 100 on profile similarity
Compare Derrick Thomas with Ken Harvey, Peter Boulware, Kevin Greene