Patriots Draft Bust Emerges as Surprise Starter to End Training Camp

If New England Patriots fans had to pick one major knock on Bill Belichick that ran through the entirety of his tenure with the team, it's probably his inability to evaluate and draft wide receivers. Names like Chad Jackson, Aaron Dobson and N'Keal Harry continually left "what-if" scenarions in the offense. And to close his tenure, Tyquan Thornton looked like more of the same in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

But what if Belichick's issues weren't in actually evaluating the wide receivers? What if his issue came with developing them?

That seems to be what the new coaching staff is banking on in the case of Thornton, who is emerging as a starter toward the end of training camp for his third NFL season according to reports from Doug Kyed at the Boston Herald.

Thronton made a late start to his sophomore season in 2023, but even with just nine games played, his 91 yards on 13 receptions had fans ready to move on. How much can you really expect from a guy who averaged 15.4 yards per game across his first two NFL seasons?

And the new front office clearly viewed wide receiver as a major need this offseason, spending a second-round pick on Ja'Lynn Polk (who has been terrific by all accounts). With the emergence of DeMario Douglas (why was Belichick seemingly better at drafting sixth- and seventh-round wideouts than first and second-rounders?), that had the Patriots positioned with a solid young duo to pair with Kendrick Bourne.

Bourne is working his way back from a torn ACL though, and apparently it's been Thornton taking full advantage of the opportunity.

It's still too early to get excited about a career resurgence from Thornton. It's not like he has massive competition for this role (beating out K.J. Osborn and Jalen Reagor), and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt isn't necessarily a wide receiver whisperer who we should assume can unlock something special in Thornton. He was also generally viewed as a mid-round prospect and thought of as a reach in the second round, so his potential was always somewhat in question.

That doesn't mean there's no room for optimism, though. Playing in the 2022/2023 Patriots offenses was one of the worst developmental environments Thornton could ask for. Now he's in a more functional group and has the chance to develop alongside a much more promising young quarterback. The speedy Thornton got no opportunity to show off his wheels last year (with an average target depth of just 10.0 yards), and having Polk and Douglas working underneath could free him up to really emerge as a field stretcher.

Of course, the best part of training camp ending is that we won't have to keep speculating on things like this for much longer. We'll get to see in real time on Sundays whether Thornton emerging as a starter is a sign that he's finally ready to break out or if it's a sign of desperation from this offense.

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