New report means the Patriots made huge mistake by releasing wide receiver

In the weeks leading to the 2024 trade deadline earlier this month, the Patriots were expected to be sellers and ship off some of their more desirable or underperforming players for draft capital. They did that with linebacker Joshua Uche, receiving a 2026 sixth-round pick in return from the Chiefs, but that was where the trades stopped.

Despite the countless rumors surrounding several players, most notably cornerback Jonathan Jones and wide receivers Kendrick Bourne and K.J. Osborn, reports claimed the team received little interest for any of their trade-worthy players. That came as a shock, considering the Patriots are in a position to accept even the lowest return, but Uche remained the only player who moved before the deadline.

It resulted in receivers continuing to be healthy scratches, including Tyquan Thornton, and ultimately resulted in him being waived before their Week 11 game against the Rams last Sunday.

Although it seemed more plausible that teams weren't calling about the third-year receiver, new reports suggest otherwise and indicates the Patriots whiffed on getting some sort of return for Thornton before choosing to release him.

Interest in Tyquan Thornton was there - so why did the Patriots not trade him?

After Thornton decided to sign with the Chiefs practice squad on Monday, NFL insider Jeremy Fowler revealed "more than a dozen teams" were interested in signing him in the days since the Patriots released him.

If that many teams were interested in a player like Thornton, why were the Patriots unable to make a deal before the deadline? It's hard to imagine none of the 12+ teams who inquired since he became available were unwilling to offer a sixth or seventh-round pick for him, as that is virtually nothing when it comes to draft capital.

Or, in the worst-case scenario, the Patriots weren't willing to move him for that little despite his not having proven to be worth more than that, even if he was a second-round selection in 2022.

No matter the situation, it feels like a big miss by the new regime in Foxboro to, at the very least, get some sort of return for a player they were hoping to move. We know they want to build the roster through the draft, and even though a late-round selection isn't incredibly valuable, they could package picks together to trade up, making them much more worth it in the long run.

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