Tyquan Thornton ran a 4.28 at the combine, but I don’t think I’ve ever been less excited about a receiver selected in the second round. Given the Patriots’ lengthy history of misses at the position, it’s hard to take them seriously.
Bill Belichick is entering his 23rd season and might be the greatest coach in the history of the game, but his blind spot has always been the wide receiver position. Either he’s picking the wrong guys, or they’re not developing them properly.
They’ve picked 11 of them in the first five rounds of draftd, and only one of those guys has been what you would call a “hit”: Deion Branch. Otherwise, it’s been pretty much flop after flop after flop. N’Keal Harry in the first round. Aaron Dobson, Bethel Johnson, Chad Jackson in the second. Brandon Tate and Taylor Price in the third.
In over 20 years, the only wide receiver the Patriots have drafted who’s had a top-20-season (using PPR scoring) is Julian Edelman, who went onto greatness as a seventh-round flyer – a quarterback at Kent State who was able to transition to slot receiver. Edelman is the only one who’s ever had a 1,000-yard season.
Below see all of the rookie receivers for the Patriots, along with the best season they had for New England. (That is, the year below doesn’t show when the player was drafted – it shows his career-best season). Edelman peaked as the No. 7 receiver in 2019. Only three others ever ranked higher than 50th among wide receivers. Branch (22nd), Jakobi Meyers (29th) and David Givens (36th). Meyers wasn’t even drafted, while Givens was just a seventh-round pick.
In the case of our most recent candidate, I expect he’ll be mixed in as a sporadic deep threat. Thornton last year at Baylor caught 62 passes for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns. No draft analysts expected him to be selected in the second round. I’m not confident that he’ll be able to outproduce the three other notable receivers on the roster (Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and DeVante Parker).
Below are the best season numbers for all wide receivers obtained during the Belichick era.
| BEST SEASONS FOR BELICHICK RECEIVERS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rd | Yr | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2019 | Julian Edelman | 7 | 11 | 100 | 1117 | 6 | 258.8 | 7 |
| 2005 | Deion Branch | 2 | 4 | 78 | 998 | 5 | 207.8 | 22 |
| 2021 | Jakobi Meyers | FA | 3 | 83 | 866 | 2 | 188.8 | 29 |
| 2004 | David Givens | 7 | 3 | 56 | 874 | 3 | 161.4 | 36 |
| 2016 | Malcolm Mitchell | 4 | 1 | 32 | 401 | 4 | 96.1 | 50 |
| 2013 | Aaron Dobson | 2 | 1 | 37 | 519 | 4 | 112.9 | 61 |
| 2013 | Kenbrell Thompkins | FA | 1 | 32 | 466 | 4 | 102.6 | 68 |
| 2010 | Brandon Tate | 3 | 2 | 24 | 432 | 5 | 103.4 | 71 |
| 2003 | Bethel Johnson | 2 | 1 | 16 | 209 | 3 | 53.7 | 96 |
| 2020 | N'Keal Harry | 1 | 2 | 33 | 309 | 2 | 75.9 | 98 |
| 2006 | Chad Jackson | 2 | 1 | 13 | 152 | 3 | 48.4 | 105 |
| 2013 | Josh Boyce | 4 | 1 | 9 | 121 | 0 | 21.1 | 135 |
| 2000 | Curtis Jackson | FA | 1 | 5 | 44 | 0 | 9.4 | 140 |
| 2020 | Gunner Olszewski | FA | 2 | 5 | 62 | 2 | 25.5 | 152 |
| 2021 | Kristian Wilkerson | FA | 2 | 4 | 42 | 2 | 20.2 | 156 |
| 2010 | Taylor Price | 3 | 1 | 3 | 41 | 0 | 7.1 | 163 |
| 2004 | P.K. Sam | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2008 | Matt Slater | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2018 | Braxton Berrios | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2012 | Jeremy Ebert | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2014 | Jeremy Gallon | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2016 | Devin Lucien | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2021 | Tre Nixon | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2022 | Tyquan Thornton | 2 | 1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan