I will gladly eat some crow and offer these GIFs as apology

[MrNathanDrake]

Someone said Thompkins could be the next Victor Cruz (later changed to Hakeem Nicks) and I really doubted it, even calling that poster a homer.

I will gladly eat crow on that. While his playing style is distinct from Cruz and Nicks, Thompkins is better than I thought. He certainly does have the potential to a star in the NFL. and most importantly he's on the same page as Brady already. Something many have failed to achieve in a much longer time (Ocho Cinco, Joey Galloway, Chad Jackson, Taylor Price, Brandon Tate)

I finally figured out how to download highlights from NFL.com, so I offer these GIFs as apology. It's good to see the young WR's finally getting settled in and gaining trust from Brady.






Thompkins with a huge catch over Pro Bowl Safety William Moore







Fearless. Gets up and walks off like it's nothing.







Great body control, getting his elbow in bounds.









Bonus GIFs:


Lagarette Blount TD run




Talib INT over Julio Jones




Kraft and Floyd Mayweather

:rocker:

 

[Ozymandias]

Right on, dude.

Thompkins is on pace for 60 receptions, 1,028 yards, and 12 touchdowns. As a freaking undrafted rookie free agent, if that doesn't impress you then I don't know what will.

He balled out tonight. Huge catches and clutch ones all over the field tonight. His awareness has vastly improved over the past few weeks too.

It's scary to think what this kid can accomplish later on in the season when everything really starts to click.

The sky is the limit.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

When you watch those GIFs.... NONE of those were easy catches.


Non-Patriot fans often say "Brady can make any receiver look good", but Thompkins deserves credit on all of those.

 

[andrewgarrr]

Right on, dude.

Thompkins is on pace for 60 receptions, 1,028 yards, and 12 touchdowns. As a freaking undrafted rookie free agent, if that doesn't impress you then impress you then I don't know what will.

He balled out tonight. Huge catches and clutch ones all over the field tonight. His awareness has vastly improved over the past few weeks too.

It's scary to think what this kid can accomplish later on in the season when everything really starts to click.

The sky is limit.

Not only will he improve due to increased familiarity, but Gronkowski and Amendola returning will ease the load AND give the rookies more favorable match-ups. I just hope everyone on the offense can stay healthy concurrently.

 

[supafly]

When you watch those GIFs.... NONE of those were easy catches.


Non-Patriot fans often say "Brady can make any receiver look good", but Thompkins deserves credit on all of those.

There's obviously a learning curve and trial by fire period at the moment, but Thompkins may actually end up being an upgrade over what Brandon Llyod was last year in terms of better speed, physicality, ability for YACs, and field stretching/keeping the defense honest.

I will admit that I wanted Llyod back in a lesser role for lesser money (it would appear that the team did too), but I never once wanted him back as the WR2. There were way too many obvious problems and limitations for him in that role last year.

It's only going to get better in my opinion, and this is actually one of the benefits of having Gronk and Amendola out--it really forced Brady to have no other choice but to work through some growing pains with these guys.

I do think that Thompkins is leagues ahead of Dobson at the moment though, even though I do think that both Dobson and Boyce will contribute 40+ catches apiece this year, which is much more than we're used to seeing from any rookie wide receiver around here. Thompkins has the potential to have a nice season comparable to Llyod's production, with better traits blended in that I mentioned above.

 

[JDot]

KT B!tch!!!!!

Thats my crack dealing, armoured robbing WR!!

 

[AzorianPats]

There's obviously a learning curve and trial by fire period at the moment, but Thompkins may actually end up being an upgrade over what Brandon Llyod was last year in terms of better speed, physicality, ability for YACs, and field stretching/keeping the defense honest.

I will admit that I wanted Llyod back in a lesser role for lesser money (it would appear that the team did too), but I never once wanted him back as the WR2. There were way too many obvious problems and limitations for him in that role last year.

It's only going to get better in my opinion, and this is actually one of the benefits of having Gronk and Amendola out--it really forced Brady to have no other choice but to work through some growing pains with these guys.

I do think that Thompkins is leagues ahead of Dobson at the moment though, even though I do think that both Dobson and Boyce will contribute 40+ catches apiece this year, which is much more than we're used to seeing from any rookie wide receiver around here. Thompkins has the potential to have a nice season comparable to Llyod's production, with better traits blended in that I mentioned above.

Thompkins and Edelman has really stepped up their games! Huge considering that in June they where probably considered Brady's 4th and 5th options. The offense slowly getting scary.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

KT had a big game last night but he still had a few ugly drops and needs to catch the ball with his hands more than his body.

On that big catch over Moore, he waits for it to get to his body. Saw that on a few other catches last night as well.

But he's young, he's learning, and it's clear Brady trusts him because he keeps going to him.

I've also felt like Brady trusts the receivers more on deeper routes than the short stuff, as he seems to be airing it out more lately. He averaged more than 10 yards per attempt last night, and 3 long completions were to KT. There was the 49-yard bomb, a long 26-yarder on 3rd down with the unnecessary roughness penalty, as well as the diving endzone TD.

Thompkins averaged over 21 yards per catch. It looks like we finally have that deep threat to complement Gronk and Amendola.

 

[Oswlek]

There's obviously a learning curve and trial by fire period at the moment, but Thompkins may actually end up being an upgrade over what Brandon Llyod was last year in terms of better speed, physicality, ability for YACs, and field stretching/keeping the defense honest.

May?

 

[VJCPatriot]

May?

LOL. Thompkins is ALREADY an upgrade over Brandon "catches the ball then flops like a fish" Lloyd. I don't think you see Lloyd making those types of catches that Thompkins did. Lloyd was allergic to contact. He would have never gone up for that one catch when he knew he had a big chance of getting lit up. But Thompkins not only went up for it fearlessly, he HELD ON.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Amendola and Gronk being out may be a blessing in disguise.

It's giving the rookies a chance to play and develop chemistry with Brady.

If everyone were healthy, KT would be #4 on the depth chart and probably wouldn't be getting nearly as many reps as he does now.

 

[Bella*chick]

Amendola and Gronk being out may be a blessing in disguise.

It's giving the rookies a chance to play and develop chemistry with Brady.

If everyone were healthy, KT would be #4 on the depth chart and probably wouldn't be getting nearly as many reps as he does now.

It's true, isn't it. As it stands now, these guys are learning a lot more than if Gronk and Amendola had been healthy. And our record hasn't suffered yet so it really is an upside.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

It's true, isn't it. As it stands now, these guys are learning a lot more than if Gronk and Amendola had been healthy. And our record hasn't suffered yet so it really is an upside.

Gronk and Amendola are options #1 and #2 when healthy. Edelman is #3.


If Gronk and Amendola were healthy... KT, Dobson, and Boyce would get very little playing time. Especially the latter two.

With the way things are now, they're development has been significantly sped up as they're forced to be in the spotlight.


Blessing in disguise. These rookies are getting opportunities to play with the starters and develop chemistry with Brady. Something that previous young WR's didn't get as much of as chance to do (Taylor Price, Brandon Tate)

 

[PATRlOT]

Gotta admit that long-bomb catch over Moore, was lucky...it bounced off Moores helmet or shoulder before hitting him in his hands

 

[BradyFTW!]

Gotta admit that long-bomb catch over Moore, was lucky...it bounced off Moores helmet or shoulder before hitting him in his hands

Thompkins made his own luck with that play. He went up and outfought Moore for the ball, plain and simple. There are teams who base huge portions of their offense around receivers being able to do that (Giants, Ravens, 49ers), so I'm just happy that it's conceivably in play as an added threat in ours.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Gotta admit that long-bomb catch over Moore, was lucky...it bounced off Moores helmet or shoulder before hitting him in his hands

he still made the catch. thats all that matters

 

[I am party]

Great body control, getting his elbow in bounds.

Kenbrelbow! :rocker:

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Saw a few people make the comparison with Lloyd but the YAC comparison isn't correct. For all the complaining about Lloyd's 2.6 YAC in 2012, it's worth noting Thompkins has 34 YAC on 15 catches, less than 2.3 average.

Thompkins is developing into a really nice player but let's not talk about the YAC advantage just yet...

 

[manxman2601]

There's obviously a learning curve and trial by fire period at the moment, but Thompkins may actually end up being an upgrade over what Brandon Llyod was last year in terms of better speed, physicality, ability for YACs, and field stretching/keeping the defense honest.

I will admit that I wanted Llyod back in a lesser role for lesser money (it would appear that the team did too), but I never once wanted him back as the WR2. There were way too many obvious problems and limitations for him in that role last year.

It's only going to get better in my opinion, and this is actually one of the benefits of having Gronk and Amendola out--it really forced Brady to have no other choice but to work through some growing pains with these guys.

I do think that Thompkins is leagues ahead of Dobson at the moment though, even though I do think that both Dobson and Boyce will contribute 40+ catches apiece this year, which is much more than we're used to seeing from any rookie wide receiver around here. Thompkins has the potential to have a nice season comparable to Llyod's production, with better traits blended in that I mentioned above.

Agree largely with what you say, but I have a hard time seeing the bolded, especially with Amendola and Gronk hopefully not too far away. I'm a big Boyce fan but I just don't see the opportunities being there for him to snag that many balls.

 

[Seacoast Fan]

When you watch those GIFs.... NONE of those were easy catches.


Non-Patriot fans often say "Brady can make any receiver look good", but Thompkins deserves credit on all of those.

I agree but on the first two throws Brady had great coolness and pocket presence.