The Biggest Surprise of Patriots Training Camp: Tyquan Thornton Locking Up a Starting WR Job

Nick Cammett. Getty Images.

Every Patriots fans institutional memory being what it is, we're used to seeing the word "surprise" in a headline around this time of year. In fact, it's as much a part of late August as Dunks' Pumpkin Spiced Lattes and BU students moving vans getting jammed under the overpasses on Storrow Drive. 

Usually it's some respected veteran getting cut or worse, getting shipped off to some remote jerkwater NFL outpost in a contract dispute like happened to Logan Mankins. What we're not used to is the word being used in the context of a pleasant surprise. Which is how I'm using it. Because nowhere in the wildest dreams of my drunkest afternoon naps on the beach this summer did I imagine Tyquan Thornton would emerge as a Patriots starting wide receiver. And yet, by all accounts, that is our reality on this day. As their X-receiver/split end/deep threat, no less:

Patriots.com - When available, he has run with the top offense, often as the starting X. He looks more sturdy out there with the added weight, which has helped him get off press-man more consistently. I'm not sure if he'll be a high-volume guy, but this offense needs a field-stretcher who can win on the vertical route tree from outside the numbers, and nobody does that better than Thornton on this roster.

PatsPulpit - [W]ith two preseason games in the books and training camp in its final week, Thornton is looking like the starting X-receiver. … Thornton has been the top X all summer, with neither Baker nor Jalen Reagor ever seriously challenging him.

Their inconsistency played a part in that, but so has Thornton himself: working under new wide receivers coaches Tyler Hughes and Tiquan Underwood, he managed to put some positive moments on tape in limited preseason reps.

I'm making the word "surprise" do an awful lot of work in this post, and maybe should consider bringing "shock" off the bench to give it a breather. Because it's not an exaggeration. After all, I was just asked two days ago if I thought Thornton would make the roster. Which is understandable, since he's once again missed some time in camp with injuries and so far in two preseason games has taken a total of 10 snaps and didn't have a reception on his one target. 

But still, by all accounts he's your new boundary-X. A job he obviously won in camp. First, by reporting after putting on some much needed muscle in the offseason. Not Mac in that season of It's Always Sunny when he added mass and was all grotesque:

But he definitely, as the kids say, got swole. He looks a lot closer to two-bills than the buck-85 he's been listed at since he was drafted 50th overall out of Baylor.

And that added size has only helped him improve on his biggest drawbacks, which has been his inability to get off the line and into his route. The thing about playing X is that you have to play on the line. Which makes you susceptible to getting jammed by more physical corners. Which, when you're 185 pounds includes pretty much all of them. And that has been Thornton's biggest area of improvement in camp. Including his reps against the best corner on the team, Christian Gonzalez:

I'd like to proceed cautiously on this, take my time and see how this plays out before I declare Thornton has finally arrived after two essentially wasted (35 career receptions on 68 targets, with 338 yards and two touchdowns) seasons. Or to declare victory because I've said the Pats shouldn't waste resources chasing the likes of Brandon Aiyuk or CeeDee Lamb and just patiently develop the receivers they've taken in the last three drafts.

But you know what? Fuck it. Let's be wildly optimistic about this. Why not? What else have we got going on? Why not believe Tyquan Thornton is going to break the mold of being yet another high WR pick that never panned out here? What's the harm? Hope is a good thing; perhaps the best of things.

Besides, plenty of Pats wideouts had slow starts to their careers and eventually sorted themselves out. Troy Brown. Julian Edelman. Wes Welker had 100 catches in his first three seasons in Miami before coming here and having 100 by Thanksgiving every season. So why not one of the fastest guys in recent Patriots history? I say this as a Pats fan. As somewhat of a history buff on the franchise. And as someone whose number has always been 11 and wouldn't mind finally seeing a return on this so-far useless $100 NFL Shop investment:

So congratulations on taking this giant professional step, Tyquan. Greatness awaits.