Tyquan Thornton

[State]

My ideal would be having Bourne up his offensive snap count to the 60+ % level and have Thornton and Meyers split the rest as well as plays some outside snaps as well.

This season will be remembered for Bourne being in the dog house for most of it, and Thornton being invisible except for a couple of games.

patfanken btw does an excellent analysis in his post, even giving an interesting digression about the better way at building strength.

Thornton is elite at straight line speed and explosive at the vertical and broad jump. He actually ran a slower three cone time than Tom Brady. So his short area quickness is suspect.

But DK Metcalf ran an even slower three cone, 7.25 v 7.38. Brady ran a 7.20.

So a go route or a deep crosser is ideal fir this kid. Do it on a run fake on short yardage. Make the safety bite. I mean this isn’t rocket science, Mr RPI.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

I hope he can start to contribute more soon, would love to see him catch a deep shot from Mac. It seems like he is being targeted a lot more on crossers than go's or posts. I want them to start using him more on jet sweeps, reverses and bubble screens. I don't really think he's a guy you want to throw the ball to in contested catch situations.

If the offensive line can give Mac time to throw going forward then I think Thornton will have a lot more of an opportunity to contribute.

 

[PatsFan2]

Green Bay's Christian Watson is looking like a player already and he was injured early on.

 

[signbabybrady]

Anyone watch the Julian Edelman Football Life documentary this weekend?

Reminds me that we all need patience. Obviously we don't want a high draft pick taking as long as Jules to develop but it was a reminder that there is a learning curve and TT did suffer an injury that would set anyone back.

Patience is needed.

 

[Toofy]

I hope he can start to contribute more soon, would love to see him catch a deep shot from Mac. It seems like he is being targeted a lot more on crossers than go's or posts. I want them to start using him more on jet sweeps, reverses and bubble screens. I don't really think he's a guy you want to throw the ball to in contested catch situations.

If the offensive line can give Mac time to throw going forward then I think Thornton will have a lot more of an opportunity to contribute.

Watson I thought was also targeted on slants and crosses but is running in open space and evading tacklers. Shouldn't that also be there in Thornton's arsenal. If that's missing then we may need to convert him to a DB and move Marcus Jones into offense . Maybe he becomes a great man coverage CB due to his speed and decent height . The smaller hands need not catch everything and just needs to bat away or break passes and occasional interceptions.

 

[Tom Tupa]

I'm not too worried about him. Right now there's a bunch of veterans ahead of him on the depth chart and he's just not getting much opportunity. When he did earlier this season, he looked pretty good. I think we'll see more from him next year once Agholor (and likely others) are gone.

 

[TomPatriot]

There are college sophomores who were not alive the last time the Patriots targeted and drafted a great wide receiver. Malcolm Mitchell only half counts. And don’t even dare say Edelman the guy was drafted as “athlete”

If you mean the Pats haven't picked a great pro WR who was a great WR in college, then I would agree.

But Malcolm Mitchell was a really good football player - injuries were not his fault. Absent injuries he might have been in the NFL for a decade.

Jim Nagy had Edelman pegged as a WR and fought hard for the Pats to pick him.

 

[captain stone]

For whatever it is worth -

In the 2.5 games with Zappe, Thornton's stats are:

Targets: 12
Receptions: 7
Yds: 63
TD: 1
Rushes: 3
Yds: 16

He's had 0 Rushes for 0 yds in offense led by Mac Jones.

Thanks for mentioning this... I had meant to point out this earlier, that the only time BoneyT has been productive here was with Zappy at QB... Hmmm...

 

[captain stone]

Comparison of 1st, 2nd and 3rd round rookie Receiver production through 11-27


first rounders stand out, probably getting more targets

Drake London 41 rec 438 yards 4 TDs
Garrett Wilson 49rec 628 yards 4tds
Chris Olave 56 rec 822 yards 4tds
Jameson Williams (on IR) na
Jahan Dotson 14rec 179 yards 4 ads
Traylon Burks 24rec 334 yards 0 tds

Christian Watson 22rec 353 yards 6 ads
WanDale Robinson 23rec 227 yards 1
John Metchie IR
Thornton 10 rec 86 yards 1TD
Pickens 33 rec 453 yards 2 TDs
Alec Pierce 28 rec 424 yard 1TD
Sky Moore 17rec 205 yards 0TD

Velus Jones 3rec 24 yards 1TD
Jalen Tolbert 2rec 12 yards 0TDs
David Bell 20rec 169 yards 0TDs
Danny Gray 0rec 0 yards oTDs

Even Sky Moore has nearly doubled BoneyT's production on a loaded Queefs team;

Tolbert was my favorite Best Available WR at #85, a spot where I will go to my grave believing that Thornton would've still been available... As if the Squealers would've taken him over Pickens... It is to laugh...

Velus Jones & Danny Gray I thought were way, WAY over-drafted... I wouldn't have started to look for them until players like Romeo Doubs, Khalil Shakir & even Kyle Phillips were off the board.

 

[Boomer B]

Anyone watch the Julian Edelman Football Life documentary this weekend?

Reminds me that we all need patience. Obviously we don't want a high draft pick taking as long as Jules to develop but it was a reminder that there is a learning curve and TT did suffer an injury that would set anyone back.

Patience is needed.

Completely different scenarios. Edelman was a 7th round pick who had never played WR and came onto a team that had Moss and Welker. There was no expectation on him to be in the WR rotation that first year. He made the team based on his Special Teams play.

Thornton is a high draft pick on a team that doesn’t have high end talent at WR. There should be an expectation for him to contribute.

I’m disappointed so far, but I also realize we have been poor offensively. Is it coaching, QB play, o-line, a combination of all? In this regards I give Thornton a bit of a pass. If he’s at the same level next year than it will look like another Belichick bust at WR.

 

[Nunchucks]

The problem is the coaching sucks. The coaching job this year has been the worst I've seen on the patriots in 25 years.

It may not be Belichick, but he put these buffoons in place.

 

[crawhammer]

How bad of a pick was Aaron Dobson? Fizzled out after only three seasons. Here's a comparison so far of his rookie season with Thornton's.

Dobson (6-3, 210, 4.37 40yd)
12 games
37 receptions
519 yards
14.0 Y/R
4 TDs
63% snap count
51.4% catch percentage

Thornton (6-3, 182, 4.28 40yd)
7 games
10 receptions
86 yards
8.6 Y/R
1 TD
57% snap count
47.6% catch percentage

 

[Toofy]

H

How bad of a pick was Aaron Dobson? Fizzled out after only three seasons. Here's a comparison so far of his rookie season with Thornton's.

Dobson (6-3, 210, 4.37 40yd)
12 games
37 receptions
519 yards
14.0 Y/R
4 TDs
63% snap count
51.4% catch percentage

Thornton (6-3, 182, 4.28 40yd)
7 games
10 receptions
86 yards
8.6 Y/R
1 TD
57% snap count
47.6% catch percentage

Dobson looks a stud to me now...

 

[VectorPrime]

Every time that someone compares some new garbage rookie wide receiver to Edelman and says “well it took Edelman years to see the field as a receiver” they literally don’t know what they’re talking about because he played tons as a receiver in 2009 as a rookie.

 

[Hyped]

Every time that someone compares some new garbage rookie wide receiver to Edelman and says “well it took Edelman years to see the field as a receiver” they literally don’t know what they’re talking about because he played tons as a receiver in 2009 as a rookie.

View attachment 47753

To be fair...Edelman was the #3 WR BY DEFAULT. He only had to beat out Sam Aiken and Joey Galloway fizzled out that year. He was only behind Moss and Welker...and when Wes was out for 1-2 games...Edelman was thrust into a starting job...for the @NYJ game if memory serves correctly.

Whereas Thornton is a part of a DEEP WR room. Sure, we don't have anyone on Moss nor Welker's level...but we have a **** ton of #2/#3 receivers in: Meyers, Parker, Agholor, Bourne, and not to mention two TE's. Heck, look at the lack of targets for Jonnu......PLUS Thornton was hurt and missed 1/3 of the season along with 1/2 of camp....

 

[VectorPrime]

Wow Sam Aiken is certainly a name I had forgotten existed.

 

[signbabybrady]

Completely different scenarios. Edelman was a 7th round pick who had never played WR and came onto a team that had Moss and Welker. There was no expectation on him to be in the WR rotation that first year. He made the team based on his Special Teams play.

Thornton is a high draft pick on a team that doesn’t have high end talent at WR. There should be an expectation for him to contribute.

I’m disappointed so far, but I also realize we have been poor offensively. Is it coaching, QB play, o-line, a combination of all? In this regards I give Thornton a bit of a pass. If he’s at the same level next year than it will look like another Belichick bust at WR.

He certainly doesn't get 4 or 5 years like a 7th round QB turned into a WR but yeah if he hasn't improved by this time next year I think it would then be concerning.

 

[upstater1]

If you mean the Pats haven't picked a great pro WR who was a great WR in college, then I would agree.

But Malcolm Mitchell was a really good football player - injuries were not his fault. Absent injuries he might have been in the NFL for a decade.

Jim Nagy had Edelman pegged as a WR and fought hard for the Pats to pick him.

Well, they did pick Deion Branch.

David Givens was also a better player than Mitchell, if we're including him.

 

[zipster9]

So far, the guy is invisible... Not even a deep try with him in the Vikings game. Sigh!

This is depressing.

Also, wonder what BillB will do IF AND WHEN they end up in the cellar of AFC East division when the season ends?

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Strange has had his share of bad play too. Marcus Jones and Jack Jones are sustaining this draft class value. I suppose we can't draw any conclusions on Thornton yet but he looks like another really bad WR pick at this point.

He was on IR for the start of the season, and its hard to really judge given that proven veterans like Henry and Jonnu couldn't produce in this offense either

Impossible to make any determinations at this point