Tyquan Thornton returned to the Patriots’ lineup Sunday, but only briefly.
One week after sitting as a healthy scratch for the first time in his young career, the second-year receiver played just 12 snaps in New England’s 20-17 loss to the Washington Commanders at Gillette Stadium.
Thornton was heavily involved early in the game, seeing two targets on the Patriots’ opening drive, one on the second and another on the third. But after a second consecutive third-down pass to him fell incomplete, the 2022 second-round draft pick was benched for the remainder of the game.
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Thornton did not play a snap after the 11:28 mark of the second quarter. He entered Sunday with injury concerns after being listed as questionable with a new foot ailment, but head coach Bill Belichick said Monday that Thornton was available to reenter the game. The Patriots simply chose not to play him.
The Baylor product finished with one catch on four targets for 7 yards, which, jarringly, was his most productive stat line of the season. In his first two games back from injured reserve, he caught one pass on two targets for 6 yards and one pass on one target for 2 yards. Thornton’s season totals to date: seven targets, three catches, 15 yards, no touchdowns.
Quarterback Mac Jones shouldered the blame for his early fourth-down incompletion to Thornton, which sailed out of the wideout’s reach. But the speedy receiver ran a sloppy route on an incompletion that ended New England’s second drive and got his hands on a third-down target on drive No. 3 but couldn’t make a contested catch.
The latter sparked an animated reaction from a visibly angry Jones, though it wasn’t clear whether his disdain was directed toward Thornton or the officials. Regardless, that proved to be Thornton’s final play of the afternoon.
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“(There was) definitely a lot I could have done differently,” Thornton told reporters after the game. “I could have ran better routes, created more separation. I take full accountability.”
Now halfway through his second NFL season, Thornton has caught just 25 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns in a Patriots uniform. He was held to one reception in each of his last four games and six of his last seven. He’s topped 50 receiving yards just once (60 versus Miami late last season) and caught more than two passes just three times.
A straight-line burner who was supposed to add a vertical element to the Patriots’ pedestrian passing game, the Baylor product has just three career receptions on passes that traveled at least 20 yards downfield. He hasn’t come close to living up to his draft slot as the 50th overall pick, which was far earlier than most analysts expected him to go.
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The player taken two spots after Thornton, Pittsburgh’s George Pickens, already has more than 1,300 career receiving yards, including three 100-yard games this season.
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It’s unclear how the Patriots plan to structure their wideout depth chart for this Sunday’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts in Germany. But based on what both Thornton and Jalen Reagor (six targets, one catch, 11 yards) showed against Washington, it couldn’t hurt to give sixth-round rookie Kayshon Boutte a look in this game.
Boutte was a surprise healthy scratch against the Commanders even with Kendrick Bourne and DeVante Parker both out with injuries. The LSU product has not played since Week 1.
Featured image via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
