Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal made some waves a month ago when he described the play of the Patriots’ wide receivers in training camp as “stink, stank and stunk.”
Giardi still isn’t completely buying in on the receiving corps, but appearing on Gresh & Fauria with fill-in hosts Nick “Fitzy” Stevens and Andy Hart on Friday, Giardi did offer a far more positive review of one New England receiver in particular: Kendrick Bourne. (Listen to the full interview below.)
“I will not take credit. Some might, but I would not do that. But he absolutely has [picked it up],” Giardi said of Bourne, who took notice of Giardi’s comments at the time.
“He's probably been, over those final three weeks of camp, two and a half weeks of camp, he was probably one of their better players,” Giardi continued. “And certainly, I guess, changed the way I view him and to a certain degree, I guess how I would view the room, because he's such an important piece of it now. If DeVante [Parker] is going to be hurt again and play not a full season, which is always the case, and if JuJu [Smith-Schuster] is dealing with the knee, which is something I was talking about in the spring … that’s something they've been dealing with since they signed him. Is that Bourne’s emergence, or re-emergence?
“Because I think we saw what we thought was a pretty good player two years ago. Again, sort of changes maybe the floor of that group, because it looks like -- yes, he looks better than he did two years ago. I think that strength that he talked about, the added weight that initially it looked like he had lost his quickness -- apparently it was just maybe he had some dead legs early in camp. Now he's found that switch and he looks as good as he's ever looked here. So, I think that's a pretty important piece. You add that to what Demario Douglas was able to do this summer and you feel a little bit better about the overall quality of that room.”
Bourne had 55 catches for 800 yards and five touchdowns in his first season in Foxboro in 2021, but that plummeted to 35 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown in 2022, a bizarre year that saw him turn into an afterthought in the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge experimental and ultimately unsuccessful offense.
Bourne’s name has popped up in trade rumors throughout the season, but the Patriots reportedly told teams he wasn’t available, a sign that new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien views him as a more important piece of the offense than Patricia did. Getting back to his 2021 levels, and potentially even topping those numbers, would seem to be in play for Bourne, which would be a welcome development for an offense in need of playmakers.
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On the flip side, one major disappointment has been Tyquan Thornton, the second-round pick from 2022 who is once again injured (this time dealing with a shoulder ailment) and will start the season on injured reserve for a second straight year. Thornton will miss at least the first four games.
“The Thornton thing is disappointing for a lot of reasons. But most of all, because I think they need him because of that speed,” Giardi said. “They don't have that field stretcher. You don't have to live that way, but you need part of that in your offense. … It's just sort of, that's the kind of element that they're missing.
“When Thornton was on the field during training camp, it wasn't awesome, but there were moments where Andy and I would be sitting next to each other and you're like, ‘Ooh, he just dragged two defenders with him because they respected his speed and he opened up something underneath for Hunter Henry or a crosser for JuJu or a back out of the backfield.’ He doesn't necessarily have to catch 55 passes to be an influential piece of the offense. But once again, more time missed and more reps that he didn't get this summer, and now that continues into the season. It's just a microcosm of how it's gone for him.”