The Patriots' training camp opens up in a few weeks, and right now, everyone's just kinda in wait-and-see mode. In theory, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the upcomming season: Drake Maye – with another offseason under his belt – should be as exciting as ever, Mike Vrabel should have the team playing with a bit more intensity than recent years, and new draft/free agent additions have the Patriots looking like a Wild Card team for the first time in a while.
RELATED: Patriots could make a sneaky training camp upgrade with one more signing
And while no one who's even remotely associated with the Patriots wants to revisit some of the last few seasons, I have bad news: we're going to (briefly) revisit the last few seasons. More specifically, we're going to revisit a guy who's no longer on the Patriots and might – if things go poorly – no longer be in the NFL: Tyquan Thornton.
You remember Tyquan Thornton. You remember every Patriots wide receiver who, uh, hasn't worked out over the last half-decade or so. Thornton's no longer on the Patriots, and by the sound of things, his chances of catching on with another NFL roster right now are slim.
Tyquan Thornton may already be close to an NFL exit
To Thornton's credit, he landed in just about the perfect post-New England scenario: fighting for a roster spot on the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City hasn't been home to a ton of star receivers in the Patrick Mahomes era, but if any QB/HC combo can figure out a way to utilize Thornoton's skillset, it's probably those two. There's only one real problem, though: for the first time in several seasons, the Chiefs' wide receiver room is actually pretty competitive.
Right now, ESPN lists him as the Chiefs' WR9. In front of him are Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Jalen Royals, Nikko Remigio, Skyy Moore, and Justyn Ross.
So, you've got proven veterans, exciting young players, and a few special teams players all fighting for the same roster spot, most of whom already have significantly more experience in KC's offense. The good news is that Thornton's got pro-level speed, but it's also kinda hard to be the team speedster on a roster with Xavier Worthy.
At first glance, a path to the final 53-man roster looks blocked in multiple ways. I'm not sure any Patriots fan is all that surprised.