FOXBOROUGH – Three days into Patriots training camp, and second-year receiver Tyquan Thornton has yet to make a catch.
He’s not alone. Tight end Mike Gesicki and fellow wide receiver Kendrick Bourne are in the same bagel club with zero catches during the competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 team drills.
With Thornton being a 2022 second-round pick, one who is expected to make a leap this season, it’s hard not being a little concerned, even if it’s early in the proceedings.
For his part, Thornton didn’t seem too concerned with his lack of targets, or catches, to this point.
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Asked what was going on with his unfavorable stats, he said “nothing at all.”
“I’m out there getting good reps in, so I’m definitely out there getting better,” said the former Baylor standout. “I mean, there’s not much targets, but we’re not counting stats. That’s not what the count is about. We’re all out here trying to get better as a unit.”
On the plus side, Thornton, who caught 22 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns last season in 13 games, said the tempo of the game has started to slow down a bit for him. He also said he was gaining more confidence.
Given all of the reps during the first three days of practice have been spent in the red zone, the 6-2, 185-pound Thornton said he hasn’t been able to use his best asset – speed – to his advantage.
“It’s a short area, so you can’t really use that much speed,” he said. “So sometimes, you have to come down with great catches, so I’m trying to work on making contested catches in the red zone.”
On one such play Friday, rookie Christian Gonzalez deflected the ball away from Thornton, while Jonathan Jones had him well-defended on another.
A few times, quarterback Mac Jones has taken Thornton aside to go over routes. The receiver said that’s what the quarterback-receiver relationship is all about.
“Sometimes he might want me to run my route a little different,” he said. “Sometimes I might want him to make that pass a little bit different. But that’s just how the game goes.”
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