Tyquan Thornton

The Patriots drafted the Baylor wideout after trading up to the 50th overall pick.

The majority of those attempts came during his freshman year, but New England might give him an opportunity to earn that gig as a rookie. Thornton has some experience in the kicking game, having returned eight kickoffs throughout his career at Baylor for an average of 17.3 yards per runback. While he is tall at 6-foot-2, he weighed only 181 pounds at the Combine and has some of the smallest hands among this year’s wide receiver prospects. He is a veritable deep threat with excellent awareness and concentration when playing on the perimeter. The Patriots’ current outside wide receiver group is headed by trade acquisition DeVante Parker, with Nelson Agholor also an option to consider as an X/Z hybrid. That year, Thornton appeared in 14 games for the Bears and caught 62 passes for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Patriots surprised analysts again in the 2022 NFL Draft by taking Tyquan Thornton earlier than experts expected.

The Patriots’ selection of Thornton began a mini run of receivers getting selected. “…If you want somebody to get vertical and stretch the field and create space for everybody else, this is going to be someone that’s going to get that accomplished.” I thought he would be a good Day 3 pick, but he went two rounds earlier than I thought.” “Joel, you mentioned trying to get fast, well this was the fastest receiver at the combine. You think about Oklahoma St. in the Big 12 title game, he had six catches.” …I thought he would be a fourth-rounder.