BIOGRAPHY
Neiko Thorpe was born on February 1, 1990 in Southfield, Michigan. He is a cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL.
Thorpe attended Tucker High School in Tucker, Georgia. He registered 18 sacks as a junior, earning an honorable mention all-county. Thorpe was selected Under Armour All-America team in his senior season. He had 64 tackles including six tackles for loss, 11 pass breakups, three interceptions, and forced a fumble as a senior. Thorpe also ran track at Tucker, posting personal-best times of 14.18 seconds in the 110m hurdles and 38.35 seconds in the 300m hurdles. Considered a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Thorpe was listed as the No. 35 safety in the nation in 2008. He was rated as the 11th best cornerback in the nation by Scout.com and was ranked as the 53rd best player in Georgia by SuperPrep.
Thorpe played college football at Auburn University. In his first career start, Thorpe recorded his first career interception and returned it 59 yards against Arkansas. He finished his freshman season tied for ninth-most tackles on the team—20 of them being solo stops. Neiko also tied for the second-most interceptions with two and most return interception yardage with 101 yards. In 2009, Thorpe started all 13 games and had a total of 84 tackles, 56 of them being solo. With this breakout season, he was named Phil Steele’s Third-Team Midseason All-SEC. Thorpe finished college with a total of 279 tackles, 7 interceptions, 34 pass deflections, 2 forced fumbles and one touchdown.
On April 30, 2012, Thorpe signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent. On August 31, 2012, he was released on the day of roster cuts. On September 1, 2012, he was signed to the practice squad. On October 6, 2012, he was promoted from practice squad to the active roster. On October 9, 2012, he was released. On November 11, 2012, he was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster. During his time on the active roster, Thorpe played in nine games and totaled five solo tackles for the season. On August 25, 2013, he was cut by the Chiefs. On September 6, 2013, Thorpe signed a practice roster agreement with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was activated on October 14 and started in the team's final five games including the East Final loss to Hamilton. He asked to be released by the Argonauts on January 14, 2014 as he continued to pursue NFL opportunities. Thorpe was signed by the Oakland Raiders as a reserve/future free agent, January 13, 2014. He impressed the Raiders during training camp and preseason and made the team after the final cuts to the 53-man roster on August 30, 2014. On September 3, 2016, Thorpe was waived by the team as part of final roster cuts. One day after his release from the Raiders, Thorpe was claimed off waivers by the Indianapolis Colts on September 4, 2016. He was released by the Colts on September 6, 2016. On September 13, 2016, Thorpe was signed by the Seattle Seahawks. On March 14, 2017, Thorpe re-signed with the Seahawks. Since signing with the team Thorpe has been a permanent fixture on Seattle’s special teams unit where he has been regarded as one of the best gunners in the league. On March 23, 2019, Thorpe re-signed with the Seahawks. On December 6, 2019, Thorpe underwent season-ending sports hernia surgery. He was placed on injured reserve on December 11, 2019. Thorpe re-signed with the Seahawks on April 13, 2020. He was placed on injured reserve on October 7, 2020 with a hip injury. He was activated on November 14, 2020, but was placed back on injured reserve four days later with a groin injury. Prior to being placed on IR, Thorpe had managed a career total 97 tackles, one fumble recovery, nine pass deflections, and one interception.
