If the 2021 NFL Draft was a time when the Patriots finally stayed between the lines and used their first two picks on players everyone expected to work out right away (Mac Jones and Christian Barmore) this past spring was Bill Belichick stepping outside the margins once again.
When prevailing wisdom seemed to indicate the Patriots should take a cornerback in the first round, Belichick nabbed guard Cole Strange with the No. 29 overall pick.
With a chance to take an NFL-ready receiver like George Pickens, Alec Pierce, or Skyy Moore in the second round, New England shocked the draft by trading up for Baylor speedster Tyquan Thornton 50th overall.
Strange is all but inked in to start at left guard barring a calamity and, whatever you think of his draft position, is an exceptional athlete who should play solid football right away.
But Thornton? Put his truly remarkable speed (4.28 40-yard dash and elite 10 and 20-yard splits) aside, and he's the lightest receiver Belichick has ever drafted. Thornton also doesn't fit the typical quick-cutting Patriots receiver that posts 3-cone drill times in less than seven seconds.
That's hardly Patriots-type behavior, especially when considering Belichick's old scouting notes regarding receivers: "Good leap and timing are more important than speed — need good upper body strength and quickness. Frail guy without good quickness is dead. A mismatch type guy, quick, elusive, big, physical type guy or any combo of those qualities can be your third receiver.”
But when asked Tuesday about his deviation in drafting Thornton specifically, Belichick gave a somewhat illuminating answer on how his approach to team building evolves as the league shifts.
"We change [positional profiles] every year and their value," he said of his draft approach. "Like what a third receiver was when that was written and what a third receiver is now, and for a corner for example, or a fullback, you know, positions that are higher percentage play times versus lower percentage play times. That significantly changes the value, you see that in salary structures, we look at that as well at the end of the year, what positions -- how does that look just economically, that is a sense of the value, league-wise."
In other words, everything, even Belichick's tried and true methods of roster construction, can be subject to change.
For one thing, Thornton fits into the Patriots' clear focus on speed and athleticism in this year's draft. Strange, Thornton, Marcus Jones, and Pierre Strong all have elite speed profiles for their size and build, according to relative athletic score measurements. Speed killed New England last season on both sides of the ball.
Now, the team is hoping to return the favor.
But Belichick's comments on the "third receiver" aspect of the conversation are especially interesting.
While it might be too early to say Thornton will be a third receiver his entire career -- he has the height and speed to play outside, but he's currently too small to so reliably right now -- that could give a glimpse into how he might be used this year when he does play. His speed and first-step quickness could serve him well in the slot, where he'd also likely face smaller, lighter defenders.
Also, Thornton's game-breaking explosiveness might have made him more valuable to teams than outside evaluators realized.
Up to five teams reportedly had eyes on Thornton as a second-round pick, with an insider telling WEEI that one of those teams (who will coincidentally play the Patriots this year) actually had Thornton ranked as its WR1 going into Day 2 -- yes, higher than George Pickens, Christian Watson, Alec Pierce, and Skyy Moore. Watson was the only second-round receiver to come off the board before Thornton, but the consensus in draft analysis circles is that all of Pickens, Pierce, and Moore would have been better picks for the Patriots at receiver.
All stand a decent chance of contributing more as rookies than Thornton will, though that might be due to the Patriots' depth at the receiver position more than anything else. However, the pick is perhaps more understandable in hindsight.
Watson is already struggling with drops against air at Packers practice and dropped a lot of passes in college as well. Pickens was playing fast and loose with his career mere days before the draft and had a number of off-field concerns in the pre-draft process that dropped him down several boards, not just New England's.
Pierce looks the part but comes with concerns about his ability to separate, which Patriots fans won't want to hear after the N'Keal Harry bust. Moore, while explosive, is only 5-foot-10, and the Patriots have no need to draft a short slot receiver in the second round.
Though Thornton's route-running and raw size will need seasoning, neither his ability to separate with speed nor his hands should be an issue.
We won't have an idea of who got the best second-round receiver for a while yet. But there's a non-zero probability that team could be the Patriots if Thornton can mature quickly both physically and in his technique.
If that does happen, Belichick's latest zig-zag could end up one of his bigger steals. At least that's the hope.
If not, though, critics might well ask why the de facto Patriots general manager abandoned the process that brought him a strong draft in 2021 and put the team's future behind the eight-ball again.
