New England Patriots second-year receiver Tyquan Thornton is reportedly dealing with a soft tissue-related injury, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
After wowing in the initial portion of open OTAs, Thornton was held out of practice, which appears to be more about the team playing it safe with his injury. Reiss alluded that the team might be doing the same thing with veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster, who suffered a knee injury when playing with the Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s AFC Championship.
When posting his weekly Sunday column, Reiss wrote:
But considering the team has been cautious with offseason addition JuJu Smith-Schuster (a knee injury knocked him out of the AFC Championship Game) this spring by keeping him off the field, and a source said Tyquan Thornton is managing a soft-tissue-related injury after he was active early in OTAs, a case could be made that voluntarily thinning the receiver ranks would be a risk not worth taking.
Along with Smith-Schuster, Thornton is expected to play a big role for the Patriots offensively in the 2023 season.
He never quite found his legs at the next level in 2022, but he was also playing on a unit without a true identity under the previous offensive coaching staff.
There should be considerable improvement with Bill O’Brien calling the offensive plays and Thornton being more seasoned in his role. It was fireworks when the Patriots peeled back the curtains in the initial OTAs practice that was open to media members.
Let’s hope that continues when Thornton returns to the field. With OTAs now in the rearview, the Patriots turn the page to mandatory minicamp starting on Monday.
