No pats on the back for this one.
New England has waived 24-year-old Tyquan Thornton, the No. 50 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, ESPN reported.
The wide receiver out of Baylor had clocked an impressive 4.28 time in the 40-yard dash at the 2022 combine before the Patriots selected him with their second-round pick in the draft.
But with a rotating cast of sub-par quarterbacks, and amid a wholly inconsistent offense, the Miami-native was never able to put his speed and ball skills together and emerge as the wideout threat executives once envisioned him to be.
Thornton had appeared in 28 games for the Patriots over the past three seasons, logging the most snaps during his rookie year in 2022.
With Mac Jones under center for the majority of that season, Thornton saw 45 targets and hauled in 22 receptions for 247 yards and two touchdowns.
Those would be the only two scores of his career in New England.
In 2023, during his sophomore campaign, Thornton converted on 13 of his 23 looks and averaged a career-low 7 yards per reception.
He’s seen only eight targets and accumulated 47 yards thus far in 2024.
The wide-receiver was active in the season’s first five weeks but had been inactive in four of the previous five.
And given the surfeit of talent the Patriots drafted at the wideout position in 2024 — Ja’Lynn Polk (second round, No. 37 overall) and Javon Baker (fourth round, No. 110), plus the emergence of Kayshon Boutte, now in his second year — the Patriots clearly didn’t believe there would be a role for Thornton moving forward.
He had been relegated to the seventh slot on the depth chart before New England cut their losses and released him on Saturday.
His roster spot will likely go to defensive tackle Christian Barmore or cornerback Alex Austin.