Background
He is the grandson of the 1948 Olympic shot put champion Wilbur "Moose" Thompson.
He is the grandson of the 1948 Olympic shot put champion Wilbur "Moose" Thompson.
Bethel-Thompson graduated from San Francisco"s Balboa High School in 2006, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was the City"s Football Player of the Year in 2006 and its Back of the Year in 2005. In 2004 and 2005, he led his team to the Turkey Bowl, the City"s annual championship, held on Thanksgiving Day in Kezar Stadium.
After a redshirt year at University of California, Los Angeles in 2006, Bethel-Thompson shared the Bruins" quarterback duties in 2007. He started in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl where the Bruins lost to Brigham Young University. Bethel-Thompson played at California State University, Sacramento for the remainder of his collegiate career. San Jose SaberCats After going undrafted in 2010, Bethel-Thompson joined the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League.
San Francisco 49ers Bethel-Thompson played for the San Francisco 49ers for a short time, and was expected to be the third string QB for the 49ers after Josh McCown was cut, but was later cut himself.
Sacramento Mountain Lions On September 3, 2011, Bethel-Thompson signed with the Sacramento Mountain Lions. Bethel-Thompson competed with Jordan Palmer, former Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn, and Trevor Harris for the starting job.
Bethel-Thompson ended up starting the last two games at quarterback over Colburn (Palmer was released and Harris signed with the Orlando Predators). Miami Dolphins Later in 2011, Bethel-Thompson signed to the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
Minnesota Vikings Bethel-Thompson signed a future contract with the Minnesota Vikings on January 13, 2012.
He was named to the 53-man active roster just before the start of the 2012 regular season after beating out veteran Sage Rosenfels for the third-string quarterback job. He was released on October 8, 2013, when the Vikings signed Josh Freeman. Second stint with 49ers Bethel-Thompson was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco 49ers from the Minnesota Vikings on October 9, 2013.
He was put on waivers by the 49ers on November 26, 2013, then signed to the practice squad a day later.
He was signed to a reserve/future deal and was activated to the active roster on January 23, 2014. The 49ers waived Bethel-Thompson on August 25, 2014.
New England Patriots He was signed to the Patriots practice squad on August 31, 2014. He was released by the Patriots on September 9, 2014.
Second stint with Vikings He was signed by the Vikings on September 22, 2014 to the Vikings" practice squad.
The signing came in part due to the injury to Matt Cassel, leaving the Vikings with only two healthy quarterbacks on the roster, in Teddy Bridgewater and Christian Ponder. After Bridgewater"s week 4 injury, Chandler Harnish was signed to the practice squad and eventually the active roster to back up Ponder in Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers, leaving Bethel-Thompson on the practice squad. He was released from the team on October 7, 2014.
Second stint with Miami Dolphins On October 15, 2014, Bethel-Thompson was signed to the Miami Dolphins" practice squad.
Bethel-Thompson was released on September 5, 2015 as part of the Dolphins" final roster cuts. On September 6, 2015, Bethel-Thompson was signed to the Miami Dolphins" practice squad.
On September 9, 2015, he was released by the Dolphins. Third stint with 49ers On November 23, 2015, Bethel-Thompson was signed to the 49ers" practice squad.
Philadelphia Eagles On February 18, 2016, Bethel-Thompson was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles.