The New England Patriots have officially given up hope on wide receiver Tyquan Thornton ever living up to the draft status that saw him selected in the second round in 2022.
Thorton is being released on Saturday, November 16, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jettisoning Thornton could be the first step toward the Patriots welcoming disruptive defensive tackle Christian Barmore back to the active roster. He’s practicing again, amid a recovery from blood clots, and both Schefter’s colleague Mike Reiss and Patriots.com Staff Writer Evan Lazar believe Thornton’s exit clears space for either Barmore or cornerback Alex Austin to return from the reserve lists for Week 11.
Releasing Thornton is also a move that shows the Pats are committed to a reset at a position long undermined by draft failures and free-agency flops. Thornton came to symbolise many of those missteps amid a litany of injuries, drops and struggles just getting reps.
Tyquan Thornton the Latest in Long Line of WR Flops for Patriots
Thornton’s career with the Patriots never really got going. Not after shoulder injuries delayed the start to his first two seasons in the NFL.
From there, Thornton’s tenure with the Pats became a series of false dawns. Like when he added muscle to his frame to finally make the grade this season.
That didn’t happen, even though Thornton entered the season as a probable starter. Not even the ascension of third-overall draft pick Drake Maye to starting quarterback proved enough to salvage Thornton’s role in the offense.
Ultimately, Thornton never had the numbers, a fact illustrated by these modest statistics from Zack Cox of the Boston Herald.
Those numbers represent scant return for 50th-overall pick the Patriots invested in Thornton over two years ago. Yet, therein lies the problem.
Thornton was over-drafted by the previous regime fronted by head coach Bill Belichick, according to MassLive.com’s Mark Daniels. He pointed out the “Patriots drafted someone with durability concerns who was considered a 5th-7th round prospect. So when he starts on the IR for the first two seasons and looks like a 5th-7th prospect, I blame the front office. Thornton worked hard. That wasn’t the issue. It was a miss. Simple.”
This was far from the only misjudgement Belichick made when drafting wide receivers. Another of his prominent picks, N’Keal Harry, eventually converted to tight end and just landed on the practice squad with the Seattle Seahawks, after being selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft.
One more Belichick find, 2013 second-rounder Aaron Dobson, played barely four seasons before being out of the league. Thornton’s release is merely the latest example of the Patriots failing to properly gauge talent at the position.
It’s something new head coach Jerod Mayo and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf are hoping to move on from. Their decision to dump Thornton will cast further doubt on the status of an incumbent like Kendrick Bourne. The latter was unused during Week 10’s 19-3 win over the Chicago Bears.
Bourne, signed by Belichick in free agency in 2021, was given a “reduced role” at Solider Field because the Patriots wanted to “prioritize younger receivers,” per Daniels.
Adjusting Bourne’s status, along with Thornton’s release, proves Mayo and Wolf are serious about going with younger options as the primary targets for Maye.
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